To Tame The Wild Beast...
by TraceAce
Summary: Meet Kurt Angle's cousin, a nasty, sarcastic girl that just might be the best diva the WWF has. But what happens when the person who manages to tame her turns out to be on the wrong side?
1. The Stats

Chapter 1 – The Stats

**Name:** Samantha Wesley

**Nickname**: Sam  
**Birthday:** August 24, 1975  
**Birthplace:** Pittsburgh, PA  
**Residence:** Pittsburgh, PA

**Parents:** Both dead, John and Flora  
**Age: **26   
**Sign:** Leo  
**Chinese Zodiac:** The Rabbit  
**Height:** 5'6  
**Weight:** 139 lbs  
**Hair:** Originally blonde, in the beginning of the story it's mango, and near the end it's a lighter blue color  
**Eyes:** Blue  
**Status:** Throughout the whole story she's either broken up, involved with, or pretending not to like Rob. It's a roller coaster, folks. ^_^;  
**Blood Type:** O Positive  
**College:** None, went right into wrestling   
**Max Bench Press: **180 lbs   
**Max Squats:** 190 lbs  
**Ring Attire:** Pants much like Lita's only black and with flames on it—shirt is similar.  
**Out of Ring Attire:** Think of punk people. That's Sam.  
**Personality:** Bitchy, pessimistic, anti-social enjoys using people to get her way or make her cousin mad.

**History:** Was raised by the Angle family after her parents died in a plane crash when she was 10. Her older cousin Kurt treated her like his little sister and thus made her resent him for all the things he told her not to do.  She got into wrestling because her cousin was getting all the attention because of it. She continues to fight with her cousin today.

  
**Favorite Food:** Pizza  
**Least Favorite Food:** Milk (It could be a food—)  
**Favorite Animal: **Black Adder—wants one as a pet  
**Favorite Type Of Music:** Hard Rock, Punk  
**Least Favorite Type Of Music:** Rap  
**Favorite Colors:** Black  
**Favorite Jewelry:** A small bracelet her late mother gave her—no one knows about it.  
**Favorite Sport (besides Wrestling): **Hockey—"the only other sport you get paid to slam people into walls"  
**Strong Points:** Incredibly strong and not afraid to fight.  
**Weak Points:** She uses people to get her way, and is a bitch to most people.  
**Best Friend:** Chris Jericho, who is the only one she considers her equal.  
**Biggest Foe:** Anyone insane enough to try to take her title away from her  
**Hobbies/Talents:** Scaring people, pissing people off, training  
  


**Entrance Theme:** "Break Stuff"  
**In-Ring Name:** Fury  
**Heel or Face?:**  A heelish face   
**Finisher Moves:** Fury's Edge (Diving Elbow)  
**Motto:** If it's not hardcore, it's not worth it.


	2. Sam Makes Her Impression

**Chapter 2 – Sam Makes Her Impression**

She smirked haughtily, folding her arms across her chest, putting her feet up on the table in front of her. _What's taking that old bastard so long? I don't have all day here._ She sighed, looking completely bored. Her cousin had warned her to be good, but he always told her that. Always. Did she give a shit? Hells no. She would never be her cousin, she wasn't goody goody, she wasn't friendly, hell, she hated milk.

When Vince finally came in, she noted his face went from a bright smile to a confused frown. _Heh, guess Kurty didn't warn him beforehand._ She didn't bother moving to make any sort of friendly gesture, but remained in her transfixed spot, slouching back into her chair, her feet still resting on the edge of his desk, the same look on her face.

"Um..are you Samantha?" Vince asked, sounding unsure.

"It's Sam." She replied, smirking. He gave her another odd look. "It took you long enough—that old hag of a secretary said it'd only be a few minutes."

"Yes, well, I was caught up in a meeting—" he seemed to look her over. "You're—Kurt's cousin, yes?"

            "Unfortunately," she replied, rolling her eyes.

Yes, she was Kurt Angle's cousin, but she was nothing like him. She had started off as a pro wrestler all along. She didn't have any special letter—she liked to kick people's asses. She wasn't an all American girl at all, not even close to it. Vince was probably looking at her choice of clothing, which was a shirt that proudly stated that she was a punk girl in red that reached just below her belly button, and a pair of baggy green cargo pants that were so big she had to have a belt to hold it up. All that was topped off by her hair, which was short and colored an interesting shade of reddish-orange.

He attempted to shake her hand, but she didn't feel like moving, so the gesture was basically broken.

"Erm—let's get down to business, shall we?" he asked, moving away to his own seat, sitting down.

"Whatever." She shrugged. "This is a done deal, really. Listen, pops, I know you need some girls in this pathetic little federation of yours—you can't deny that. I am the best most indy feds have to offer. Your son all ready offered me a position, but I thought I just might have a little more fun in yours, so you either want me or you don't."

"Are you sure you're Angle's cousin?" he asked, sounding exasperated.

"What does it matter? Kurt told me you guys needed a girl, and look here, I'm a girl. If you don't believe I can kick ass, let me prove it to you." She grinned, a bit maliciously.

"Oh, I know you can. I've seen you work. It's just that—" he trailed off.

"It's just that you thought I would clean up my act? Sorry, Vince, but I do that for no one. I don't even really like being known as a relative to Angle most of the time. Now, do you want me or don't you? Either way, you'll be seeing me, because I still have a spot open in WCW." She sneered. Vince blinked, looking shocked at her open rudeness, but sighed.

"Well, when you put it that way, I was going to give you a spot anyway on our roster—and you certainly do live up to expectations." He conceded, shaking his head. "Will you join the WWF?"

"Sure." She shrugged. "Give me the papers and I'll sign."

After an hour, she had become a full-fledged WWF wrestler, and she stood up, flexing her hands as she signed the last paper, Vince stood up as well, offering his hand again. This time she grudgingly took it, a cocky grin on her face. "Nice doing business with you, old man."

"Yeah." He mumbled. "Just follow your cousin around for awhile. I'm sure you'll find someone to go after."

"I'm sure I will too." She grinned broadly, walking away. Still she heard what he muttered under his breath as she left.

"This is going to be very interesting—" She decided not to comment but left the room, walking past the secretary, going towards her cousin who was sitting dutifully in the lobby. He looked at her as she approached, noting the look on her face.

"Aw, Sam, you were a bitch weren't you?" he asked bluntly. She smiled at her cousin, innocently.

             "I just informed him he couldn't go on without me." She chuckled darkly. Kurt frowned deeply.

"I told you not to piss him off." He scolded, still frowning.

"Why not? I'm going to end up doing just that anyway." She laughed. "And I got the job, dear cousin."

"It wouldn't hurt if you were a little nice once and awhile, you know." He sighed.

"But what fun is that?" she inquired, not minding the glare she got from her older cousin. "Hey, I told you, I'm in the WWF now. What more do you want?"

"I still can't believe you went to Shane first." He shook his head.

"He's cuter then Vince, so what?" she laughed.

"Come on." He replied, grudgingly.

"Aye aye, Mr. USA!" she sniggered. He shot her another glare. They began walking to his car as she whistled a tune, smirking to herself. _Man, I kick so much ass. Lookit this, I've been offered spots in both federations. I wonder if I should have went with WCW—oh well, no use wondering now. I'll bring this company out of the slump. Both companies really do suck anyway—but I ain't gonna complain about the cash, that's for sure._

"Vince said I'm suppose to follow you." She grinned widely. He let out a groan.

"Follow me?" he asked. "You should follow that Hardy kid, I'm sure HE'D appreciate you."

"That rainbow haired fucker? Nah, he's a freak." She chuckled. He glanced at her then back at the road.

"He's exactly like you, what are you talking about?"

"He's nothing like me. He's a softie."

"He jumps off ladders."

"He's a very stupid softie." She retorted. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to even comment, Sam." He shook his head. "Just don't get into trouble, that's all I'm asking. Unlike you, I care about my image."

"People call you the Olympic Milkman, you call that an image?" she replied pointedly.

"I'm warning you—" he started.

"Fine, fine, I'll be a good little cousin." She sighed. "But don't expect me to be friendly."

"God forbid." He smirked.

"Yeah, I know." She grinned.

That Night:

    "I'm bored." She whined, sitting back.

"You're going to SIT here until I get back, got it??" he warned.

"Yes dear sweet cousin of mine." She replied innocently. He gave her a look.

"I mean it. Don't go scaring anyone."

"I won't, I won't, geez." She rolled her eyes. He finally nodded and left the room. 

"He's such a prick." She said aloud to herself.

She was fucking royalty in her mind. She was trained in fighting dirty, thus her hardcore nature was more then obvious. She had been wrestling more then her cousin did, too, well, pro wrestling anyway. She was better then him; it was as simple as that. She never liked him, really, because he always butted in when she dated people, and made her stop smoking. She missed smoking.

"What the hell am I doing sitting here for?" she asked herself. This was her first day; she wasn't going to be in a room the entire time.

Basically ignoring the orders Angle gave her, she innocently walked to the door and tried to open it. It was locked. "Figures—" she rolled her eyes, pulling a pin from her pocket she always carried around for emergencies such as this. "He's such a dumb ass."

It took her seconds to break the lock. Swinging the door open, she left boldly, not caring if anyone saw her. Walking down the hallway, she looked around to see if anyone was around. Kurt told her to be nice, right? So she'd reach out and try to be friends. Or piss them off. Same difference, right?

Ah, her first target. She grinned widely, mischievously, walking over to him, "accidently" bumping into him. She watched as his coffee basically splayed all over the bimbo standing next to him. She tried not to laugh.

"Oops, I'm sorry." She responded as he turned to glare at her.

"Steve! It's hot!!" the girl whined.

"Excuse me, bitch, but do you know who you just bumped into?" he asked, glaring at her. She didn't back down.

"An ugly bald headed Texan with a bad taste in belts?" she asked, innocently. Both looked at her, shocked.

"I'm Stone Cold Steve Austin!!" he growled.

"Well I'm Sam, nice to meet you Stoney." She grinned. Austin didn't seem to know what to do with her.

"Look at you, you silly little freak. Where did you come from, a circus? What?" he paused, glaring at her. "I should kick your ass for what you did. What?"

"Do you have some weird fascination with saying the word 'what'?" she asked, smirking. "Listen Mr. Cold, I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I don't give a damn."

"Steve, get her back for what she did!" Debra commanded.

"I'm handling this, Debra—" he responded. "Listen, you don't know who you're messing with—"

"Yeah I do, Stone Cold Steve Dumbass—" she laughed, not minding that he looked like he was about to kill her.

"That's AUSTIN!" he corrected loudly.

"OH! Wait! I remember you now!!" she gasped in fake awe.

"You damn right you better remember me." He responded.

"Yeah, aren't you that ugly old guy that sells used cars where I live and wears fake snakeskin boots?" she grinned.

"I deserve respect!!" he sounded like he was growing more and more angry. "I'm the WWF champion, and the Alliance leader!!"

"I feel bad for the Alliance then." She smirked. He snapped then. She saw him advancing, and knew she was in for a fight. She grinned, not minding, not backing down.

It was something else that stopped him. "Whoa, whoa man—chill out." She didn't know where he came from, but he was holding Austin back from going after her. He stopped, staring at the person who had butted in. "Why go after her when Angle's walkin' around here somewhere?"

"This bitch is being disrespectful to me." He pointed at her. "And I have to make a lesson—"

"Why bother? You'd kill her." He responded. "Go find Angle, I hear he's making fun of you, that's an even bigger diss, am I right?" Austin looked at her wearily.

"Fine, I'll let her go. But you better watch out, you silly little bimbo—you're not going to get lucky next time. Come on, Debra."

"But Steve—"

"COME ON!" He commanded loudly, basically dragging her away. _No way, I didn't do all that not to get any action!_ She started to say something, but found her mouth clamped. She squirmed in the grip, but found herself unable to get out of it. She was finally let go when that Austin guy was out of sight.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" she demanded, turning around to the person who had stopped Austin.

"I think I just saved your life." He smirked.

_ Who does this guy think he is?_


	3. A Few Hours In, Two Enemies, One And A H...

**Chapter 3 – A Few Hours In, Two Enemies, One And A Half Friends**

          "Who the hell are you?" she demanded. He smiled.

          "Well, my name has only three words in it." He grinned.

          "What's with that, anyway? You guys have some sort of obsession with having long names?" she smirked angrily.

          "Now now now, don't be so jaded." He chuckled coolly. "First off, who are YOU?"

          "I asked you first." She responded, looking annoyed. "You had no right to butt in like that—"

          "Sweetie, I hate to tell you, but Austin would have snapped you into little tiny loud mouthed pieces." He shook his head. "He's not exactly someone you want to mess with."

          "I can take care of myself." She responded sharply.

          "Aren't we the spitfire?" he laughed, then stopped as she glared at him. "Listen, I'm sorry for 'invading your space', but I didn't want him breaking you in half."

          "Who are you?" she repeated.

          "I'm Rob, all right? Just call me that." He responded.

          "Well, Rob, stay out of my business, all right?" she responded, still glaring.

          "You're not very friendly, are you?" he grinned.

          "Why should I be?" she asked stubbornly.

          "You're gonna piss him off again next time you see him, right?" he peered at her.

          "Of course I am." She grinned.

          "Well, I know you probably won't listen to me, but I suggest you find someone else to bother." He nodded.

          "I'm telling you, I'm not afraid of some ugly inbred white bastard that thinks he's better then everyone else." She retorted. "I'm fucking hardcore! I've fought people ten times his size!"

          "You're a hardcore wrestler?" he suddenly sound interested.

          "Yes, that's right, that's exactly what I am." She smirked.

          "Well hey, what a coincidence. I happen to be the Hardcore champion." He showed her his belt.

          "Oh how nice." She grinned, getting close to him. "Well you know what that means, right?"

          "Um—no?" he blinked.

          "That means—" she suddenly shoved him backwards, and he fell to the ground. He looked at her, bewildered. "—You've got yourself a new enemy. Have a good night. Buh-bye."

          She walked away from him. _I was wrong, I did get a little action. Haha, what a loser. I can't wait to really kick his ass—if I had a ref, I probably would have all ready. Me be careful—like that would happen. I don't need to do that._

"Nice shot." God, were people following her? She looked up to see a blonde man grinning at her. He was leaning against the wall, looking a bit bored.

          "And who are you, Blondie?"

          "Me? The name is Chris." He paused. "You must be that cousin that Kurt is looking for. He put it this way—'Chris, can you please find my fucking cousin before she gets herself killed? I want to get her first.' He doesn't like you too much, does he?" he asked, innocently.

          "You got that backwards." She responded, smirking.

          "I probably do. Though I should deliver you to your favorite cousin, I'd rather watch you go piss off people. It's actually pretty entertaining, you know." He nodded. "See, I do that myself—I have a good target, if you'd like some advice."

          "I'm listening." She responded, eyeing him.

          "Her name is Stephanie. There are so many ways to make fun of her it's not even funny. I could go on for years ranting off stuff about her. And if you're looking for a fight, she'll be good for that too—she owns ECW, she'll make someone go after you." He grinned. "A perfect target."

          "She owns ECW?" she asked, rubbing her chin. "Actually, you're right, that does sound interesting."

          "Exactly." He smiled. "Look, I know you're not looking for help, but let me tell you—we're the same, you and I. I was watching you when you pissed off Austin. That took a lot of guts. I like that. And that RVD guy—very nice. I know you could easily kick his ass."

          "RVD?" she asked, confused.

          "Yeah, the one you pushed backwards. Me and him have some issues as well." He nodded. "Anyway, let me put it this way—if you ever need a partner, call on me. Like I said, I like your style."

          "All right, I'll remember that." She paused. "But I probably won't need it."

          "You could go after tag teams now." He laughed. She couldn't help but let a small grin out. 

          "SAM!" She turned her head to see her cousin quickly approaching. _Damn, does he always have to follow me around?_

          "Hey Kurtie." She grinned.

          "You are SO dead—" he said, grabbing her by the arm.

          "Hey hey now, Kirk."

          "Listen, Chris, thanks for finding her—but now I have to go kick her ass."

          "Like you can." She smirked.

          "Why don't I take her off your hands for the night, huh? I hear Austin is after you, you wouldn't want to put your darling little cousin in danger, would you?" he asked, innocently. Sam, realizing what he was doing, made a sad face.

          "Yeah, Kurtie, I don't wanna get hurt—" she agreed. He looked at them.

          "I don't know why you'd want her around, but fine, watch her tonight." He sighed, letting her go. "Just—make sure she doesn't piss anyone off, OK?"

          "All right, Kirk, sounds good." He nodded. Kurt looked at Sam again, huffed, and walked away.

          "He's such a dumbass." Both of them said together when he was gone, and they looked at each other.

          "You know, Chris, I hate to say this, but this looks like the start of a very good friendship." She grinned. He nodded.

          "Wanna go meet Stephanie?" he asked, smirking maliciously.

          "I'm there." She nodded.

          So now with a new person to piss off, she easily followed this new person she had met. _This Chris guy isn't too bad—better then my cousin, most likely. And if he's all for having a little fun, hey, power to him. I could use a guy like that around._

          "What color is your hair?" he asked, making conversation.

          "Mango." She nodded proudly.

          "Sounds fruity." He chuckled.

          "I thought blonde just wasn't my color." She shrugged.

          "That's for sure." He grinned. "Most of the blondes I know are a bit ditzy."

          "Chris, you're a blonde." She responded, looking at him.

          "—Oh yeah, I forgot." He scratched his head.

          "I think you were born with the right hair color, Chris—" She rolled her eyes.

          "And there isn't a thing wrong with that—" he beamed. "Hey, look, there she is." She almost let out a yelp when he pulled her against the wall.

          "Why does this feel like Mission Impossible?" she whispered, looking at him.

          "Well, usually I don't plan stuff like this—how you wanna go about it?" he asked.

          "Let's just walk past her." She shrugged.

          "You know, you're right." He nodded. "That's how I usually do it."

          "Well come on." She pulled his sleeve, making him walk with her again. She began up another conversation. "So then Vince tells me that I should change my style, and that ain't happening, you know?" He nodded in agreement. She basically pushed Stephanie out of the way as they walked.

          _Five..four..three..two—_"Hey, bitch!" _Right on time._ She turned, giving her an icy glare.

          "Yes?" she asked. Chris turned too, giving a slight grin.

          "Well well well, look who we have here—hey Steph, how's it going?" Chris greeted sarcastically.

          "Why am I not surprised you hang out with someone like her?" she sneered at Sam. _Oh, she's asking for it._

          "I'm sorry, but you know, if you didn't take up half the hallway with your fake ass boobs, maybe I wouldn't have bumped into you." She smirked. Stephanie looked appalled.

          "How dare you!" she screamed as Jericho tried to hold his laughter in. "I'm going to make SURE you BOTH pay for what you just said!!!" And then she stomped off, leaving them both laughing like crazy.

          "I think that went well, didn't you?" he asked her, and Sam smiled evilly.

          "Oh yeah. Definitely." She rubbed her hands together. _You know, being in the WWF is a little more fun then I thought it would be. _ "So, what do you think she'll do?"

          "Probably send the goons."

          "Bring it on." She replied, and he grinned at her.

          "You're one of those people who like picking fights for the hell of it, aren't you?"

          "What, you just figured that out?" she asked innocently.


	4. Sam Shows Her Hardcore Nature

Chapter 4 – Sam Shows Her Hardcore Nature

          "You WHAT?!" Kurt stared at his cousin, blinking.

          "Well, you see, this really bitchy girl pissed me off so—" she trailed off.

          "Oh Chris, do not TELL me she's talking about who I think she's talking about—" he turned to the Canadian, who smiled sheepishly.

          "Erm—maybe?" he coughed.

          "I told you to keep her out of trouble, not use her to get your little girlfriend pissed off!!" Kurt glared at Chris.

          "She's your girlfriend?" Sam turned to Chris.

          "No!" he responded sharply.

          "Well Chris, this is your problem, because there is no way in hell I'm going to let her be in a tag team match against Rhyno and Raven—" he trailed off.

          "I am SO going to fight!" she responded quickly. "You can't tell me what to do!"

          "I just did." He replied flatly.

          "I am not going to take orders from someone who thinks milk is better then beer—go to hell, Kurt. I'm sick of you trying to boss me around." She glared icily at him.

          "You know what? Fine. Go ahead. Get your ass kicked. But don't say I didn't warn you." He replied, angrily. "It's different here."

          "Stop worrying so much." She replied, grabbing her gear, instantly calmed now that she got her way. "Come on, Chris."

          She noticed Chris give Kurt a helpless look as they walked out. She decided to ignore it. "Where's your room?"

          "Why?"

          "I need somewhere to get changed--" she explained.

          "You want to get dressed in my locker room?" he asked.

          "No, I want to see it so I can dress OUTSIDE of it. Of course I want to get dressed in your room." She smirked.

          "But—" he trailed off.

          "What's the big deal? It's not like you've never seen a girl with her shirt off. You're a fucking wrestler, for god's sake!" she rolled her eyes.

          "Yeah, that's true—" he had a weird smile on his face, and she decided she wasn't going to ask.

          "Let's go Romeo—we have a match soon."

          "O-oh, right." He nodded, leading her again. "See? Here it is. You can dress first. I'll be out here."

          "We're all adults here." She dragged him inside with her. "Now just sit down and calm down. Look, see, I can change here." She motioned to the showers. "You can change out here. It would save time."

          "But—"

          "Listen, it's not like I'm going to see anything worthwhile if I looked, so what's the problem?" she smirked.

          "You know, I should be offended by that, but I'll ignore that comment." He rolled his eyes.

          "All righty then." She nodded. "Now get dressed before I kick your ass." She took her stuff and walked dutifully to the showers, behind the wall of it. She pulled her baggy pants off, replacing them with something pretty similar, but not as baggy. They actually fit her. They had a flame pattern on them. She pulled her shirt off next, easily pulling on another one, also similar, but it plain and black in color. She smiled; it was such a perfect outfit for her. She sit on the ground of the shower, taking off her shoes and socks, and replacing them with real wrestling boots, the ones she had been using for a year now. 

          "Are you dressed yet?" she asked.

          "Almost—" he responded. She took that as a yes. She hummed, walking out, not caring that he was only pulling up his pants.

          "Nice undies—" she sniggered. He hurried even more to pull his pants up, suddenly blushing. "You know, you have a nice ass."

          "You don't know what the word privacy means, do you?" he asked, turning to her.

          "What? You do." She laughed. "You know, you turn the coolest shade of red when you're embarrassed—"

          "I'm seeing why your cousin wanted to get rid of you." He rolled his eyes.

          "Hey, you should be HONORED that I've decided to be nice to you." She informed him.

          "You're starting to sound like Stephanie." He pointed out.

          "Yeah, and you like her." She laughed.

          "Hey, I told you—"

          "Joking, joking." She watched him pull on his own boots.

          "So, tell me about yourself, now that we're being nice to each other—" he trailed off.

          "About me?" she grinned.

          "Yeah." He nodded. "I need material to make fun of you with."

          "Oh, so that's how it's going to be." She rolled her eyes. "Well, what do you want to know?"

          "You grow up with Kirk?"

          "Sort of." She shrugged. "We were in different groups, though. I was with the people who liked skate boarding and all those fun little things, and Kurt hung out with the jocks."

          "Why'd you start wrestling?"

          "I didn't want to go to school the rest of my life, and I liked working out, so I just went for it." She grinned. "Anything else?"

          "Why do you hate your cousin so much?" he asked bluntly. She laughed slightly.

          "I don't hate him, he's just annoying." She shrugged. "We're too different."

          "Well, not many people are exactly like your cousin." He chuckled lowly.

          "Oh yeah, if you tell him I said that, I'll kill you." She warned darkly. He put his hands up.

          "All right, all right, I promise." He chuckled. "You know, even though you were all bitchy to him, he still told me to make sure you didn't get killed."

          "Should I take that as a good thing?" she asked.

          "He obviously cares about you." He shrugged. "You should be nicer to him."

          "But that's not that fun." She laughed. "But fine, I'll try to be nice. Only when I have to."

          "Right. All right, I'm ready, you ready?"

          "Of course I am." She smirked. "Oh yeah, the name is Fury now."

          "Fury?" he asked, grinning. "What brought that on?"

          "I don't want to be known as a relative to Kurt." She responded simply.

          "You're a hopeless cause, Sam." He sighed.

          "What?" she asked, innocently. He groaned.

~~

          She came out to his music. Lillian was going to announce them, but she must have realized she had no clue who she was, and decided just not to bother. People were genuinely confused as well, as he held the rope down for her as she got in. She winked at him and he grinned.

          "Give me the damn microphone." She demanded to Lillian, who flinched and gave it to her quickly.

          "I bet all you people are wondering—'Who the hell are you'? Well, I'll tell you. My name—is Fury. This is my first night in the WWF. But a certain bitch didn't like that fact—that's why I'm out so early. Now, I'm not your usual girlie girl—oh no, nothing close to it. I'm not after the Women's championship. What I'm after is the WWF Hardcore championship, and RVD—you better watch yourself, because I'm going to be after you." She threw the microphone to the side, and Jericho nodded in approval as the fans cheered.

          "Who does this girl think she is?" she heard behind her, and noted Heyman was talking about her. "I heard she not only told off the billion dollar princess, but Austin as well! But her challenging RVD?"

          "She has a lot of guts, that's for sure." JR responded, and that's all she heard, as Rhyno came out. She was ready.

          She didn't know either of them, nor their style, but certainly understood as they started beating up Chris. _Oh, this is perfect, they're hardcore wrestlers! Right up my alley. Damnit, Chris, let me in. I wanna wrestle! That's it—fuck him, I'm going in. _She smacked his back as he came close; it was a tag in after all. Jericho looked at her, surprised, but let her go in, giving her an 'I hope you know what you're doing' look.

          She kicked Raven squarely in the head. She could have sworn a collective gasp was heard in the arena as he staggered back, actually looking hurt. She watched as he looked at her, his eyes showing his obvious surprise, as he went after her again. He tossed her into the ropes, and she retaliated by hitting a clothesline. He fell to the ground, clutching his throat for a moment. Gaining momentum, she picked him up and brought him to the turnbuckle. She did a tornado DDT, and she watched as Raven was downed.

          It was a lot of moves like that during the entire match. Chris and Sa—erm—Fury were easily kicking ass, and no one knew what to think of it—actually, no one knew what to think of HER. No one seemed to understand at all how the hell she, this petite mango-haired female, could down someone like Rhyno not once but numerous times.

          And they won. She pinned Rhyno. Both Rhyno and Raven were staring at them as they both retreated to thunderous applause. She was out of breath, but pretty damn proud; she had shown her point. "Kick ass match, Sam." He grinned at her as they finally got to the back.

          "Too easy." She smirked.

          "I almost didn't believe you were that great of a hardcore fighter but—my god, I don't think I've ever seen Raven get his ass kicked that bad—" he was out of breath as well. "You sure showed them."

          "I want RVD." She muttered. Jericho grinned.

          "In time, in time." He nodded.

          "Listen, I'm going to get something to drink. I'll catch up to you."

          "All right, be careful." Chris winked.

          "Me? Careful? Of course." She smirked. Chris walked away, and she began walking to the 'refreshment' table. She took some water, gulping it down, splashing a little water on her face as well.

          "Heya." A voice behind her said. She spit out her water, surprised. She whirled around.

          "What the fuck are you doing?" she asked.

          RVD was hanging boredly upside down on a bar overhead. He grinned innocently at her.

          "Just hanging out." He laughed. She just glared at him.


	5. A Title Shot…On One Condition

**Chapter 5 – A Title Shot…On One Condition**

          "I hope you fall." She rolled her eyes.

          "See, that's not possible. I'm like a cat." He pulled himself up so he was sitting on the pole.

          "Right." She responded. He hopped down, and she couldn't help but giggle when he almost lost his balance when he landed. Still, he got it, and turned to face her.

          "Nice match tonight." He nodded.

          "Are you following me?" she asked, bitterly.

          "Actually yes." He nodded. "Supposedly, I'm suppose to kick your ass right now, as ordered by Mizz McMahon, but I just don't have the heart."

          "You kick my ass? That's funny." She shook her head.

          "I'm just as good as you, you know." He grinned. "And you are good—I think you surprised a lot of people."

          "I just do my thing. I don't show off." She glared at him. "I don't care what people think."

          "I didn't say you did." He held his arms out, almost in a gesture that told her to calm down. "Gotta stop jumping to the conclusions. Speaking of, though, hey, you know my name—it's not too fair that I don't know yours."

          "Why do you want to know?" she raised a brow, suspiciously.

          "I don't think your name is Fury. Unless your mom was drunk when she had you—" he trailed off.

          "Not that it's any of your business, but my name is Sam, all right?" she looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you gonna leave me alone now?"

          "You know, if you just gave me a chance, you'd see we're a lot alike. I mean, even just wrestling. You have the style I have." He explained.

          "Why should I give you a chance? I'm going to kick your ass first moment I can." She shook her head.

          "Oh, there we go." He grinned. "I'll make you a deal, hardcore girl. I'll give you a match, a real match—you know, one you can prove yourself with—if you go out to get a drink with me."

          "Are you asking me out?" she inquired, her brow moving up again.

          "Naw, it ain't like that." He flashed her one of those wide, cheesy grins. "See, a bunch of the guys are going to the bar, and I sort of said I had a date—"

          "So it's a date."

          "Technically." He admitted. "But I would rather have blind hatred as a date then someone who has the brain a rock has."

          "You barely even know me though." She pointed out.

          "Your name is Sam. What more is there to know?" he inquired.

          "You're really desperate, aren't you?" she realized.

          "Definitely." He nodded, not ashamed to admit it.

          "And you'll give me a hardcore match?" she asked.

          "No strings attached." He nodded. "Come on, you have nothing to lose, right?"

          "I thought you were suppose to be after me, though."

          "No one listens to her anyway." He grinned again. She sighed, looking like she was thinking. _This is a perfect chance for me. I don't have to jump him—nothing like that, and all I have to do is go show up for some drink. I'd be stupid if I said no._

          "When and where are we going?" she asked, sighing in defeat. He grinned.

          "Great, I knew you'd see it my way." He nodded. "Meet me at the hotel entrance, 7 o'clock tomorrow."

          "I don't have to dress up, do I?"

          "I don't do dressing up either, so no." he shrugged.

          "And this will give me a free title shot?"

          "100%."

          "Fine, I'll be there. But I swear, if you're lying to me—" she trailed off.

          "No lies. I'll see you then, huh?" he smiled at her, and she just rolled her eyes.

          "I'm going to enjoy kicking your ass." She responded. He just laughed.

~~

          "Did you see me, Kurtie?" she asked, drying her hair with a towel. He looked at her from the bed he was lying on and shrugged.

          "Maybe." He shrugged.

          "You know, it'd kill you to give me a compliment, wouldn't it?" she looked at her cousin, scowling.

          "Listen," he sighed. "I saw it. It was good."

          "I'm going after the hardcore championship." She stated simply.

          "Why is that so appealing to you?" he sat up. "There are so many other male dominated titles—Intercontinental, US, Lightheavy-weight, Cruiserweight, hell, even the WWF and WCW title—why that?"

          "Because I am hardcore, that's all there is to it. You have to accept me someday." She responded. "I'm not like you. I get a high off getting hit by trash cans."

          "You know, you would say something like that." He shook his head.

          "Hey, when it's the truth, it's the truth." She stood up straight. "I'm going out soon."

          "And exactly where are you going? It's only 12 o'clock in the afternoon." He raised a brow at her.

          "Chris invited me to lunch. See Kurtie? I'm making friends." She beamed at him.

          "It figures the only person you get along with is a loud mouthed Canadian."

          "He's Canadian?" she pondered. "And get this, I'm actually going to talk to other people too."

          "Let me guess, Matt, Jeff, Lita." He smirked.

          "How'd you know?" she asked, in fake shock.

          "I'm not going to even go into how I saw that—" he rolled his eyes. "I thought Jeff was a 'softie'."

          "He still is, but I'll give him a chance to change my mind." She nodded.

          "Whatever. Just don't make anyone cry." He responded dully.

          "But what's the fun in that?" she pouted.

          "I don't know why I bother." He shook his head. She grinned.

          "I don't either, but it's really is amusing." She chuckled.

          "Just go out. Bother Chris." He waved a hand.

          "Yeesh, kicking me out? That's not very nice. I'll leave once I dry my hair, all right?" she chuckled.

          "Fine, fine." He smirked.

          She kept her promise, and went out. Chris had told her to meet them at a little diner across the street from where they were staying. She sighed, pulling her hood up. It was raining, a perfectly dreary day. She sprinted across the street to the haven of the diner. She entered it, pushing her hood of her shirt off. She instantly saw Chris.

          "Hey Sam, over here." He motioned. She walked past the desk and to the table. Her eyes fell upon the trio sitting with him.

          "Let me guess—" she grinned. "Matt, Jeff, Lita." She pointed to all three of them correctly with the right names.

          "Very good." Chris smirked. She nodded.

          "I know stuff." She replied sarcastically, sitting next to Chris.

          "Guys, this is Sam." He explained to the three.

          "We all ready know." Lita nodded.

          "Yeah, the girl more insane then Jeff—" Matt grinned, pretending not to notice the look Jeff shot him.

          "I don't do ladders." She replied. Jeff raised a brow.

          "You scared of heights?" he inquired.

          "No." she retorted. "I just don't enjoy the pain that comes from jumping from them. I will if I have to."

          "She might give you a run for your money, Jeff." Lita laughed.

          "I have my eyes set on someone else." She explained after giving the waitress her order.

          "And who might that be?" Jeff asked sounding interested.

          "RVD." Chris answered for her. She looked at him. "Am I right?"

          "Yeah." She nodded. "I'm going to get a hardcore match with him."

          "I don't know, there's a few other wrestlers that have a grudge against him—" Matt pointed out.

          "I have it guaranteed." She grinned. All four of them looked at her.

          "You didn't have sex with him, did you?" Chris asked bluntly.

          "I don't want the title that much." She responded sharply. "Of course not."

          "Then how ARE you so sure?" Lita asked, basically summing up what everyone else was wondering.

          "Well, he offered a proposal, and I agreed to it." She explained. They all still looked confused. "All right, fine. Not that it's any of your business—none of yours—he wants me to show up at some thing with him."

          "Sounds like a trap to me." Jeff commented.

          "I have this handled." She shook her head. "And even if it was, I could take them."

          "Even I think that it's a bad idea, Sam." Chris trailed off. "Maybe we should follow you guys?"

          "You guys are just as bad as Kurt!" she sighed, exasperated. She realized that she had just let out her little cousin secret, but at that point didn't care. "Listen, I'll be fine."

          "I can't believe you haven't given Kurt gray hairs yet." Chris replied, innocently stirring his drink.

          "And you better not tell him, Chris." She warned. He looked at her, frowning. "I mean it."

          "Fine." He gave in grudgingly.

          "Great." She nodded, then added loudly: "So, where's the food? I'm not going to wait 15 hours for this shit, you know."

          People looked at her. She rapped her fingers on the table as Chris, the Hardy brothers, and Lita pretended not to know her.


	6. First Date…Sorta…

She heard the knock on the door. _Right on time. Great._ Kurt looked to her as she walked to the door and opened it. Chris was standing there. He gave her a look, but then did no more.

"I'll be back, Kurtie." She called to her cousin.

"Yeah, Kirk, c-ya." Chris responded when she nudged him. The two exited the room and walked to the elevator. She turned to him. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Stop being so paranoid. I'll be back. Thanks for covering." She grinned one of those grins that told people she was up to something.

"Yeah, whatever." He sighed.

She left him there and went to where she was going to meet Rob. _Look, he invites me somewhere, and the bastard is late. It figures. I can't believe I agreed to this. _She tapped her foot testily, looking at her watch. _3 minutes late now._

_ _

__"You showed up." She looked up to see him approaching.

"Let's just get this over with." She replied.

"Not even a hello?"

"Hello." She smirked. "Let's get this over with."

"You know, if you gave me a chance, I bet we'd get along." He rolled his eyes.

"All of the more reason why you ain't getting a chance." She waved a hand. "Come on, I don't want this to be longer then it has to be."

"Yes master." He sniggered.

"Queen." She corrected. "Of Hardcore. And I don't mean your Queen, either."

"You've got issues, don't you?" he asked, peering at her.

"Damn right I do. Now let's get moving." She responded, and he sighed, nodded, and led the way. She saw they were in front of a car. "We're taking a car?"

"What, are you too special to ride in a car?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well, yes, but I guess I'll have to deal with it." She sighed. She walked to the passenger side, and she stopped when he walked with her and opened the door for her. She looked at him and he grinned. "Don't try to be a gentleman, it won't work with me." She got in and slammed the door, almost on his fingers. She put her seatbelt on, slouching against the seat, trying to think if it was really worth all this.

_Of course it is. A few drinks and I'll be able to kick his ass. Just got to look happy for awhile. I'm going to go insane. Wait, no, positive thinking. _He got in and she didn't even look at him. _The things I do to get to the top. Ugh, he's such a jerk._

_ _

__She continued brooding until they got to the small, quite clean looking bar. _So, this is the hell. All right, Sam, time to act like a date. Flash the smile, shake the ass—and Kurt wonders why I don't go on many of them. _He opened the door for her again, and she only rolled her eyes at him, brushing past him, nearly knocking him over. _All right, that was last shot; time to be nice. Ugh, I hate that word._

_ _

They walked in together, and she had calmed her temper down. "Hey Rob, over here!" She looked to where the voice came from and her heart almost dropped and she could even feel the ounce of nervousness spring up in her. _Hey, it's that Raven guy. Who's the other one though? _

"What's she doing here?" Raven asked, staring at Sam when they approached.

"Fellas, we have a honored guest here. I told you I would have a date." Rob grinned to her and she gave a horribly fake smile. _This better now be long. _"I'm sure you know Raven, Sam."

"We've met." He responded lowly, taking a swig of the drink he had in his hands before pushing back his braids.

"This is Justin." He pointed to the other man.

"Dude! Raven, isn't that the girl that kicked your as—"

"Crucified—" he started. Justin quickly got the hint and quieted.

"Have a seat, Sam." He offered her a chair. She gave him another fake 'thank you' look and sat down, trying to look like she wanted to be there. _If I smile any more my jaw is going to freeze. I definitely can't wait to get out of here._

_ _

"So, you're with the WWF?" Justin asked, trying to make conversation after she ordered a drink.

"Yeah." She responded.

"You seem a little too extreme for it." He commented innocently.

"Yeah, well, I probably would have joined ECW if you didn't have a slut as a boss." She responded. _Damn, I have to watch myself. Come on, I can do this. _

"She's not well liked in the ranks, really." Raven spoke up. He seemed about as social as she usually was, as he quickly went silent after he put his point across.

"I just listen to her so I can stay in the company." RVD agreed. "But hey, there's honor between the hardcore wrestlers, so no one is gonna know that's how we feel." The drinks came then, and she drank hers in one sip. Justin blinked, watching her.

"You drink often?" he asked.

"No." she responded, shaking her head.

It was all idle conversation. She just let herself down whatever drink came by her. The more drunk she got, the less painful this thing was, right? She sighed; they had to be leaving soon. Suddenly, through her drunken stupor, she heard a large noise outside. She turned and saw something that not even her drinks could mask.

Kurt. _I'm going to kill Chris. Well, if Kurt gets pissed, I'll give him a reason to get mad. Haha—_She didn't have her head on straight, which just fueled her side that made her want to cause trouble. When Kurt finally got to them, she pulled RVD to her and kissed him right in front of her cousin. _That'll get his blood boiling. _

"That's it, we're going." Kurt said after regaining his senses from the shock of his little cousin kissing some ECW wrestler. She glanced at RVD, he looked dazed and shocked as well. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

"Who are you to tell her what to do?" Raven asked, peering at Angle with a coy grin on his face.

"She's apart of my family, and I'm responsible for her. I suggest all three of you stay away from her or you'll have me to deal with. Now come on, Sam." He pulled her up and she giggled, drunk as hell, slumping in his arms.

"She's related to YOU?" RVD asked, sounding shocked. Kurt didn't answer, but dragged Sam away. She was too drunk to care.

"Hah, I kissied him—" she laughed.

"Wait until you're sober." He mumbled under his breath. She had no will to fight back. She let him drag her out, into his car. The minute he basically threw her in, she slumped down and yawned loudly.

"What possessed you to go near that guy?" Kurt asked when he got in and started the car.

"Can I drive?" she asked, then burst out laughing.

"No, I think I'll drive this time." He muttered.

"I am the Queen of Hardcore—" she hummed.

"Remind me never to let you drink again."

She fell asleep in the car and woke up in the dark. She blinked, sitting up. She quickly let herself fall back again when she got a dizzy feeling. _I feel like shit—_Suddenly she had to hide her head when light suddenly hit her, making her feel like she was going to hurl.

"Wake up." She heard. She moaned, shutting her eyes tightly.

"Turn off the sun." she groaned.

"You do the drinking, you take the consequence. What the hell were you doing with RVD? And Raven, and that—Justin guy?!" he demanded.

"Ugh, I still got that bastard's taste in my mouth." She stood up there, shakily, walking to the bathroom. Kurt followed her. She started to brush her teeth.

"What are you doing?"he asked.

"Trying to wash out all the diseases." She responded, ignoring the pounding headache she had.

"Why were you with him?" she turned to look at her cousin narrowing his eyes at her.

"Who told you?" she asked, spitting out the toothpaste before reapplying it again and continuing.

"Matt and Jeff." He responded. "Not that it matters." _That jackass—he must have told them to do that, because I didn't tell them not to let it out. I'm still gonna kill Chris_. "What were you doing there?"

"I was on a date, obviously." She responded, knowing that would piss Kurt off.

"You never go on dates, why now?"

"Because I felt like it, all right?" she spat out the foam that collected in her mouth from brushing her teeth again, and rinsed her mouth with water.

"I don't want you to hang out with them." He frowned.

"If you haven't noticed, Kurt, I'm 26; I'm a big girl now." She looked at him, scowling. "You're just like how you were when we were younger."

"Because you still act like you're younger!" he responded in a shout. She was actually a little surprised at the harshness in his voice.

"Whatever." She responded, pushing past him. "You really have no right to dictate to me what to do."

"If you stay in my hotel room, I do." She turned to him, her headache increasing.

"Do you have some insane thing where you have to control me?" she asked in a huff.

"I'm just trying to protect you. These are tense times, with the Alliance and all. I all ready heard about your little fiasco with Austin. Do you realize that guy is out to ring my throat? What do you think he'll do to you if he found out you're my cousin?" he stared at her as she sighed loudly.

"You know Austin doesn't scare me." She announced.

"Well he scares me, all right Sam? Maybe you shouldn't be so fucking selfish and think about someone else besides yourself for once. I don't care how many times you say you can beat his ass, hell, for all I know, you probably can. But for what it's worth, I don't want to find out, because if he can beat half the WWF up, including your pal Chris and even myself, he could do it to you too." He sighed. "And now he's going to know, because RVD found out. He'll go tell Austin like the sick servant he is."

"No he won't." she blurted out, not realizing she had even talked. Kurt stared at her. "Though I hate the jackass, I really do—and I didn't need this, to add—he stopped Austin from attacking me, not even knowing who I was."

"RVD?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah." She scratched the back of her head. "I could have took Austin though, the little bastard messed up my fun."

"Still, he probably will tell, or those other two—"

"There is honor among the hardcore wrestlers." She replied, remembering what Rob had said.

"Oh really?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah." She nodded, biting her lip. "I really believe that." She paused. "Oh yeah, by the way, I have a hardcore match for the championship."

"…You WHAT?!" he asked, his mouth dropping.

She smiled innocently as Kurt looked like he was about to strangle her.


	7. The Hardcore Match Against R-V-D

**Chapter 7 – The Hardcore Match Against R-V-D**

          She stretched again. She couldn't believe how nervous she was feeling. _Come on, Sam, you're SO much better then him. He's an idiot; he can't be that great. Even though he has had that belt for a while—bah! No matter._ She took a breath and cracked her knuckles.

          "You're going to get arthritis if you keep doing that." She jumped involuntarily. She didn't think anyone was around. She turned to Chris, her eyes narrowing.

          "I can't believe you have the nerve to come near me." She said, her anger apparent.

          "Come on, Sam, I was just watching out for you." He replied. "And you never said that Matt and Jeff couldn't tell."

          "I don't have time for this." She waved a hand. "I have a hardcore match."

          "So I guess I'm not forgiven, huh?" he asked, peering at her. She paused, the words Kurt said suddenly hitting her, but only for a moment. Chris was the first person she let herself become friends with, after all. He was probably just like Kurt, only a lot less geeky. That was probably why she decided what she did.

          "I guess I'll forgive you this time," she smirked, "But do it again and you won't be having little blonde haired monsters in this lifetime, got me?"

          "Got it." He nodded. "Good luck in your match."

          "I don't need luck." She responded confidently. He just grinned at her.

          She went back to stretching. _I hope he keeps that promise. Actually, he better, or I'll have to kick his ass the cheap way. I want my title shot. I want—_ She suddenly jumped when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She whirled around, about to slam her fist into the person's face, but managed to stop herself in mid swing.

          "God, do you always sneak up on people?!" she demanded as she glared at her enemy.

          "Just you." He smiled. "You're always so tense."

          "You know what I think?" she asked.

          "What's that?" he asked, sounding interested.

          "I think you have got to be the most annoying person on Earth!" she responded sharply.

          "You didn't think that yesterday." He grinned. She made a face.

          "Please don't remind me of last night. That had to be the worst thing I ever did in my entire life. I was drunk, all right? I wanted to piss my cousin off. Don't think I actually wanted your nasty germs." She glared at him.

          "Yeah, you know, why didn't you tell me you're a cousin to Mr. America?" he inquired with a smirk.

          "It wasn't any of your business." She smirked right back. "It's not like it was important."

          "But—I must ask, how did someone like you and someone like him come out of the same gene pool?" he asked, shaking his head.

          "I say it's a curse." She shrugged. "But who gives a fuck? Do we have a hardcore match or not?"

          "A promise is a promise." He nodded. "Actually, that's the reason I came around. Thought I should tell you."

          "How nice of you." She responded, sarcastically.

          "I know. I set it up with that Regal guy. He didn't even ask if you actually agreed to it, you know."

          "All right, then, good. When's the match?"

          "Next one up." He shrugged. "--I don't suppose you're going to hit me with something, are you?"

          "I don't know about you, but I don't do cheap shots." She smirked, raising a brow. "I'll see you in the ring." She brushed past him, leaving him standing there once again.

          _I'm going to beat him senselessly; maybe then he'll stop bugging me. Well, probably not, because then he'll probably want the title back—damn, why did it have to be him of all people to hold that title? I'm never gonna get rid of him. _She sighed; it was like one long nightmare.

          Vince had made sure she had a theme. Actually, she threatened him into doing it, but what was the difference? He didn't particularly like the song either, which was her favorite song. After a few—well, **hints**, he finally agreed to have "Break Stuff" as it. She smiled at the memory of that meeting; Vince was so scared of her. Hah!

          She heard her theme music start. She had been waiting for that moment, and she tried not to hum along with the song as she walked out. People actually cheered; they seemed to like the bitches. Or they liked the bitch who liked beating people up senselessly. She knew there were—no one who did that that was female. _Damn, I love being me._

          She had a trashcan in her hands. She had found it lying around, and considering that it was her favorite choice of weapon, she grabbed it. Suddenly RVD's music played. She watched as people cheered for him as well, and bit back her temper, letting it store up on her. When she was mad—that's when she was at her best.

          They stood face to face. She glared at him as he glared back. This was it; it was finally time to show him. She didn't hear the crowd anymore, her mind focusing on the target. "Don't hold back." She mouthed, and in an instant he tried to kick her. She jumped back, winding up, slamming the trashcan into his side. He teetered over and she did it again.

          She couldn't help but be surprise when he shook it off. She tried again, only this time he caught it and kicked her in the stomach. She almost fell backwards, but managed to catch herself. _Ow. That sort of hurt. _She barely dodged a kick to her head and slipped out of the ring. He slid out after her and went towards her. He grabbed her, picking her up, about to slam her into the turnbuckle head first.

          She used his momentum to push him forward and herself backwards. He himself connected. She jumped on his back, and grasped her arms firmly around the spot where the sleeper hold worked best. He struggled, trying to get out her grasp. He suddenly lurched forward, doing a literal flip, throwing her off and into the nearby security wall. She landed upside down, her back smashing hard into it. She winced as the hit vibrated in her. He walked to her and attempted to pick her up. Knowing whatever he was going to do would hurt, she instinctively kicked with her leg and hit where she wanted.

          He fell to the ground, twitching. Even at the angle, she still managed to kick it hard. Leaving him lying, she went under the ring and grabbed a fire extinguisher and a stop sign. _Ugh, I hate to admit it, but he's tough. It's time to fight smart. _She hid behind the metal stairs, waiting, waiting for that perfect moment. She watched him stand up, looking around, confused. _A little closer—_He walked a few steps towards her and she suddenly stood up, letting lose the white foam. He fell backwards from the close blast and the slippery white stuff now under his feet. She took the stop sign, jumped onto the top of the stairs, and jumped, letting the fall's force add to the pain of getting hit in the head with one of them.

          He winced, holding his head. She went after him again but suddenly felt her feet fall out from under her. She landed face first into the stop sign she was holding. She instantly felt the blood flow, and managed to pull herself up with one arm, wiping her mouth. It was coming from there; she must have busted her lip open. He didn't hold back, like she requested.

          He let her lay there, setting up a chair on the ground, before picking her up. She found herself flying in the air, and her back connected with the chair that was perfectly placed. Pain shot through her back and she let out a yelp of pain as she arched it, trying desperately to stop the stinging. She felt him try to grasp her legs, but she again pushed out, catching him off guard. She staggered up, her face now dripping blood. _I won't give up, I won't._

He stared at her for a second in shock, and that's all she needed. She took his shoulders and pulled him down. His head bounced off the chair she had been standing over. The move took the energy out of her, though, and she fell along with him. All she heard was her heart beating loudly in her ears. _No—no—I can't—_ She turned over, weakly putting an arm over his waist. She heard the count, then felt him kick out. She clenched her teeth, again making herself stand, her body shaking with effort. _He won't—he won't beat me unless he—kills me—_ She felt sick, but she brushed it off. He had stood up too, but he looked about as tired as her. He ran at her, and she basically had to let herself fall. He tripped over her body and slammed his head into the security wall.

          She stood up, standing behind him as he held his face. She pulled him into a school boy, and she knew it was then or never. She let all her energy drain to her arms, willing them to be strong enough to hold him down. He thrashed in her grip as she continued to hold him down. Then she felt someone throw her over. She looked up, but couldn't see. The blood had covered her sight. She felt herself being picked up, and she finally caught a glimpse.

          Austin. She was too tired to wiggle out of his grip. She suddenly felt herself be thrown like a rag doll, and she waited for the painful landing. It didn't come, instead, she felt herself land against something soft, and warm and—sweaty?

          "What are you doing, RVD?!" she heard Austin holler.  She opened her eyes to see that he had—caught her? She felt him let her down, and she finally caught her breath enough to pull herself up and rid the blood from her eyes. He was in front of her, and Austin was right in his face.

          "Get out of here, man!" he yelled at Austin. Austin pushed him. He pushed back. "I mean it!" Austin continued to glare. He punched RVD straight in the jaw, and he fell backwards, over her, and onto his back. She felt Austin pick her up again, a lot more roughly. She waited to be thrown, waited to feel the pain. And then she felt herself fly backwards, landing on something soft again before rolling onto the mat.

          She opened her eyes to see RVD standing over Austin, the chair in his hand. Austin stood up, glaring, but backed off. She saw him turn to her, and she waited for the blow to be made. She was finally going to lose. She blinked when he threw the chair to the side and stooped down. He took her arm and helped her up. She winced, her body getting used to standing again. "You got your breath back?"

          _He's going to make this fair. _She stared at him a second in surprise. He let her go and she wiped her face of the blood, gaining her full eyesight back. With a nod of her head, the match started up again. She saw him coming at her with a chair, and she drop kicked him. The chair bounced off his head and made him fall back. She quickly rolled him up.

          A second later, through the ringing in her ears, she heard cheers. I—won? She blinked as the ref basically had to pick her arm up. She rolled off him and managed to stand on her knees. He was lying there, his face now spurting blood. He must have gotten the chair hard into the face. She stood up again, walking to him. He looked up at her, waiting for another hit to be made.

          She helped him up, letting him lean on her for support. _I may hate this guy, but after all, we hardcore wrestlers do have some honor, right? _"Come on. We better get you into the back."

          "I can't see." He choked out, blood spurting out when he talked. The blood had run over his eyes like it had with her own. She helped him limp up the ring, forgetting to grab her new title belt.

          For once, it just wasn't as important to her as it usually was.


	8. The Idea Of Deception

**Chapter 8 – The Idea Of Deception**

          "Help him." She glared at the medic in the room. The medic jumped up when they entered. She was probably as bloody as he was, but the difference was hers was now caked and able to just be washed off, while his was flowing, and also going onto her. She was used to blood, though, so she didn't actually care.

          She handed him over to the medic. "What about you?" he asked.

          "I'm fine." She responded. "Do what the guys say, dumbass." She stared at him for a second then limped out.

          _Time to get my title. _She glanced around, wondering who had it. Suddenly she saw him, the little ref that was doing their match. She walked right up to him and grabbed the title. "I'll take that."

          "Y-yes ma'am." The ref responded, looking at her fearfully. He quickly got out of there.

          _Ugh. My head hurts. _She limped to her locker room, which was also Kurt's. She didn't exactly want Kurt to see her, but she figured he probably did all ready as what just happened was televised. She opened the door to see Kurt sitting there, staring at her.

          "Hi Kurtie." She grinned.

          "You look like you got hit by a bus." He stood up, staring at her. "Are you all right? Maybe you should get checked out—"

          "Can I at least clean my face before you start ragging on me? Here, hold this." She tossed her belt to him, and he caught it. She limped to the bathroom area, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror. She winced; her lip was busted open like she thought it was. She also had a cut on her brow. They weren't bleeding anymore, so she knew it wouldn't need stitches. She turned on the faucet's water, beginning to wash the dried blood off. The stuff on her hair would need a good shower, she knew, and she wasn't going to complain. She **really** wouldn't mind a nice hot shower.

          She cleared off her face, deciding to clean out her wounds when they got to the hotel, where she kept her first aid stuff. She might be hardcore, but she wasn't going to be stupid. She knew stuff like what she had could get infected. She found Kurt standing there, watching her.

          "What's up with you and RVD?" he asked, sounding a bit demanding.

          "He helped me, I helped him. It's as simple as that." She shook her head. "Don't look into it so much."

          "Well after what happened last night—" he trailed off. She looked at him then.

          "Kurtie, I was drunk last night, don't you remember? I don't like him, actually, I think he might be more annoying then you." She smirked.

          "Well I don't like you hanging out with him." He frowned.

          "Did you even hear what I just said? Ugh, it's not worth it. Kurtie just shut up. I have a headache." She grabbed her belt and sat down.

          "Do you really need to be a hardcore wrestler?" he asked.

          "Yes, Kurtie. Don't start with that." She groaned.

~~

          _Hmm..Kurt really doesn't like the guy. _It was the morning after, and she had waken up early. She didn't feel like getting up, so she was now staring up at the ceiling, thinking. _Heh heh, I should use this. I mean, right now, Rob doesn't know if I did that because I liked him or just did it because he helped me. It's so easy, why didn't I think of this earlier? _She sat up, a large evil grin on her face. _I have to talk to Vince._

The plan was so simple, so easy. Vince would agree just to get her out of his hair. She wouldn't have to deal with the WWF for a while. And, most of all, she would make her cousin mad. She REALLY lived for that. All she needed was to sneak out—and she did that well. Then she would have to act, and it would all go through smoothly.

          He obviously liked her. She could easily use that as a good factor.

          She stood up, her plan all ready playing out in her mind. She would tell Vince, and he would agree. Then she would pretend Kurt kicked her out—some sort of fight—when she knew Rob would be around. Rob would of course try to help her, being the goody goody he was. She would tearfully ask him if she could use his room. Then she would spy on the Alliance, with Rob standing up for her every time someone begins to wonder. She knew he would.

          She felt bad for only a moment about her idea, then realized how perfect it was. And she would be helping the WWF out too! See, so no one lost. Well, unless you count the hairs on Kurt's head. She had paid back RVD, so she didn't even have to worry about that. Yes, a perfect plan in every way—

          She smiled. She would talk to Vince about it that day. It would look a lot better, because she could make it seem like she was unhappy on how the WWF was treating her. Yes, she would lie and say Vince didn't want her to have it because she was a girl. It was all plausible, and since the Alliance hated him anyway, they would love to hear that he lost the best female wrestler it had.

          She looked at the clock. _Only 7 AM. I'll go at 10 AM, pretend Chris asked me for a late breakfast. He isn't doing anything, right? Oh well, he isn't now; he owes me for what he did before. I want to—surprise my cousin. Heh—_

She went into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. _Good, the swelling is going down._ She traced a finger across the one on her lip and winced. It was still very sore. He had really beat her up last night; she would give him that. He was the toughest person she probably ever faced, even. She had faced many people, and if admitted that to herself, it was actually a real honor. _Too bad it has to end up this way, but he's so easy—so so easy to use._

When she got out, Kurt was awake and making coffee. He seemed obsessed with the drink, and it actually seemed like he was drinking more every day. _Hm, wonder why. _"I'm going out to eat again Kurtie."

          "That's nice." He mumbled. "Have fun."

          _Great, he's still half asleep. _It was 9:30. When he stumbled into the bathroom, she made haste to get out of there. She would need to talk to Chris before she went through with it, so he knew what to do. She didn't exactly know which room it was, and she was set to find out. She found the nearest person—who happened to be Spike Dudley, who was innocently outside his room.

          She basically slammed him into the wall, pinning him against it. He let out a gasp as the wind rushed out of his lungs. She smiled evilly at him as he squirmed in her tight grip. "All right, shrimp, I need your help."

          "I—can't breath." He gasped. She tightened the grip.

          "Good. Now listen carefully. I need you to tell me where Chris Jericho's room is." She tightened her grip further, and he choked out. "And you better know."

          "He's 5 rooms down, on the left. Room S103." He managed to blurt out. She smiled then, slamming him into the wall, but letting the grip go. He let out a huge gasp and fell to the ground, clutching his throat.

          "Thank you!" she said, giggling. She walked in the direction he had told her to go. She got to the door, and pounded her hand on the door. If the door wasn't as thick as it was, she probably would have put a hole through it. She heard stumbling from behind the door, and then it swung open.

          "Don't you get dressed when people come to the door?" she asked, grinning widely. He saw her and groaned.

          "You even do morning calls too?" he asked. He was clutching the towel he had around his waist.

          "Get some pants on, Blondie. You're helping me again." She grinned widely.

          "Why do I feel like I'm being used?" he asked, smirking.

          "Please, Chris?" she gave him a sad face. "I'll love you forever—"

          "Who said I wanted that?" he asked.

          "Fine, with my idea, I will get the one person who you WANT to like you to like you." She grinned, brightly. "I'm coming in." She pushed past him, and he sighed, closing the door.

          "Give me a second to get at least my boxers on, all right?" he asked. She nodded, reclining on one of the beds. She watched as he grabbed a pair and disappeared into bathroom. Seconds later, he walked out, his head covered in a towel as he dried his hair. Normal dark blue boxers replaced the towel around his waist.

          "Now, continue." He sat opposite of her, continuing to dry his wet hair.

          "That wasn't the towel that was like covering your dick, was it?" she made a face.

          "Of course it isn't. Now keep going." He responded, rolling her eyes.

          "All right. See, I'm going to join ECW."

          "You WHAT?!" his head shot up.

          "Not REALLY join, pretend to join. Listen, you saw Rob last night—" she trailed off.

          "I saw you last night." He grinned.

          "He likes me. It's more then obvious." She continued.

          "Yeah, I got that feeling too." He nodded. "So what does this have to do with me?"

          "Chris, you're more obvious then Rob." She grinned. "You like Stephanie, right?"

          "Are you insane?" he blinked, staring at her.

          "No, but I've never seen you go after someone as much as you did her." She chuckled.

          "You're mental."

          "You're in denial. And you have a problem with RVD, right? Why is that? Could it be because your so-called enemy has been given him more attention then you?" she smiled as he gave her a deadpan look.

          "Get to your point." He responded, looking pissed.

          "All right, all right, don't get so pushy." She laughed. "So I'm going to pretend to join the Alliance—ECW in particular. I'll use RVD to gain trust in it. He's an idiot, he'll tell me everything the Alliance tells him—stuff they don't want the WWF to know. I'll relay the info to you guys. If you know your enemy's move first, you win."

          "So you wanna become a spy?" he asked, raising a brow.

          "Look at me. Once I get their trust, do I really look like someone who would spy for this sort of company? I don't think so. It's in the bag." She grinned.

          "And you came up with this idea when—?" he asked.

          "This morning." She nodded proudly. He looked at her oddly, then shook his head.

          "All right. I'll help you. What do you want me to say this time?" he asked.

          "Just try not to open the door or answer the phone until I come back, all right?" she asked.

          "Fine." He shook his head. "But go now. I have to do stuff today."

          "Thanks Chris." She quickly replied, standing. He nodded. "I think Vince is having a meeting in one of the rooms downstairs by the lobby. Obviously you knew he was traveling with us for once."

          "I'll see you later." She waved, walking out of his room. She smiled when she got out; all was going according to plan so far.


	9. The Using Of A Good Person

Chapter 9 – The Using Of A Good Person

          Ah, there he is. She saw him in one of the huge rooms downstairs, talking to some person she really never saw. He was too scrawny to be a wrestler. She shrugged, opening the door, making both the people in the room look at her in shock. "Meeting's over, we need to talk boss."

          "Sam?" Vince asked, shocked.

          "Out, you." She pointed at the man, who obviously knew she wasn't someone to mess with. He stood up shakily, basically rushing out the room.

          "Sam, I refuse to take this sort of—"

          "Shaddup and sit down. I have something good for you." She sat down, putting her legs up on the desk. He continued to glare. "Don't have a hernia, old man. Listen, I have a way where you can EASILY beat your little Alliance enemy."

          He sighed, knowing whatever he said wouldn't get rid of her. "I'm listening." He finally sat down, looking at her.

          "I'm sure you saw last night. You know, when I brought that Hardcore championship back to this stupid federation." She raised a brow.

          "Yes, I saw it. You were impressive." He admitted.

          "Yeah, and I'm sure you saw RVD actually trying to protect me." She rubbed her hands together, grinning largely.

          "I was wondering about that." He leaned forward, still looking at her.

          "He has some weird crush on me or something. Trust me, I didn't ask for it. But the more I think about it, it's a great thing. Because that means he's got a weakness." She nodded. "That weakness turns out to be me. Who knew?"

          "Yeah, it surprises me too." He mumbled. Sam decided to ignore the comment.

          "So if I pretended to want to join the Alliance because I'm not happy here, he would be the first to come to my defense into getting in. I know how to act, Vince. All I would have to do is start the waterworks and he'd be all over me in a second." She smiled evilly. "Once I get his entire trust, he'll start telling me everything like all the Alliance members know—I'll get the info to you directly."

          "You want to be a spy, then?" he asked.

          "Damn right." She nodded. "And you know I can do it."

          "Well, it is an interesting idea, if you really are willing to do it." He scratched his chin.

          "Of course I am. I wouldn't be asking you if I could do it if I didn't want too." She grinned.

          "Well, if you want too, fine. I'll tell everyone about it so they'll know." He nodded.

          "But one thing, Vince—" she started. He looked at her. "When my cousin flips, tell him it was your idea."

          Vince paused, then sighed, knowing what she was proposing was too perfect to mess up. "Fine. Now get out of here."

~~

          She had been waiting for the perfect moment to get her plan into affect. Vince himself had actually asked Chris to cover for her, because she was gone for most of the day. Chris was pissed, but agreed, "for the company". She continued to glance around, and noticed Rob coming downstairs. Her heart jumped, more from the excitement of what she was doing.

          _Time to break some hearts. _She grinned evilly, before going into her 'poor innocent girl' mode. She made herself cry. _Take the bait, take the bait— _She continued to look depressed, and heard the door open and shut. And he took it, just exactly how she figured he would.

          "Sam?" he walked over to her. She managed to look him over. She had busted a bit of his forehead open the night before. After noting that, she pretended to be embarrassed about crying.

          "R-Rob?" She sniffed, wiping the fake tears from her eyes. "Listen, I'm not in the mood—"

          "What happened?" he asked, peering at her. She looked at him sadly. _What a moron. This is too easy._

"Like you fucking care." She spat, trying to put a little more of herself in to make it more believable.

"Why would I be asking if I didn't care?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Kurt kicked me out. He said he hated me." She shook her head. "Said I wasn't worth the trouble of watching. I'm so fucking sick of this stupid federation." _Haha, I commend myself for the perfect way I put that._

"Oh." He frowned, looking at her. "What's wrong with the WWF?"

          "Just because I'm not a fucking guy, Vince is making me lose the next match for my Hardcore championship." She pouted, lying beautifully. "So much for equal rights, huh? So now I have no room, no belt, and no fucking respect—" She eased the Hardcore belt, which she had been carrying all along, up her shoulder. "Well, it was nice while it lasted—"

          "You shouldn't have to put up with that shit." He shook his head.

          "Yeah. I should just quit. There's no place for me, it seems." She sighed, still scowling. _This is a lot easier then I thought it would be. I mean, I knew it was going to be easy but—look at this guy, it's pathetic._

"Don't say that. The guys were right before. You don't belong in the WWF. They can't take our sorts of people. Listen, I myself will also say—you're the perfect pick for the only ECW female—"

          "What about Stephanie?" she asked. "She doesn't like me."

          "If I put in a good word, she'll have to agree." He responded. _Bingo._

"But I've been a bitch to you, why would you do that?" she asked, acting surprised. 

          "Well, you sort of made up for it when you helped me to the back last night." He smiled in a friendly-manner. "You have nothing back there. Join ECW."

          "But—could I get a room alone?" she asked, innocently.

          "Hmm—probably not. But hey, you can stay with me until um—well, you make some other friends." He shrugged. "What do you say? Hell, you can stay with me for a day or two even if you don't want too."

          "You would do that for me?" she pretended to be touched. He grinned broadly and nodded.

          "Sure thing." He shrugged. "You need a place to stay, right?"

          "Yeah." She again looked downtrodden to add to the effect.

          "Then come with me." He motioned to her. She sighed loudly, nodding.

          "I guess so. Until I find something else." She responded. "Thank you Rob." She gave him a wide smile, which, though fake, really accented the whole acting. He nodded.

          "Come with me, then." He offered a hand and she took it, standing up. She followed behind him as they headed towards the stairs. What he didn't see was the widening evil grin on her face. _This plan is in the bag. I wonder how Kurt's gonna react? Oh, who gives a fuck? Haha!!_

          "It's not really cleaned up but—" he opened the door to the room when they basically hiked to it, as it was all the way on the other end of the hotel. He opened the door and she was glad to see it not as messy as she was dreading it to be. She followed him in, sitting down on a bed instantly.

          "You tired?" he asked.

          "Not really. I just have a headache." She rubbed her temples. He nodded, understanding.

          "Yeah. Me too. Think it's more because of the blood loss though." He grinned. "Speaking of, that was an awesome match last night. I don't mean to be rude, but you surprised me."

          "I surprise a lot of people." She shrugged. "But yeah, it was interesting."

          "Was Austin after you because you're Kurt's cousin?" he asked.

          "No clue. Probably." She sighed.

          "Well, just don't talk back to him too often and he'll leave you alone. I learned that a while ago." He laughed. "Austin doesn't like me much either. I don't think I'm serious enough."

          "You? Not serious?" she smirked.

          "But if you want to get Stephanie on your side, however, that's going to take a little work. We'll talk to her today, but first I need to give you a few—lessons." he looked her over.

          "Lessons?" she asked.

          "Yes. I'm going to teach you how to act. If you haven't noticed, Steph is a bit—bitchy." He explained.

          "I act fine." she responded, defiantly.

          "All right, I'll test you. How are you going to say hello to her?" he asked, smirking slightly.

          "Umm—" she scratched her head. "Hey you dirty ugly hoe?"

          "—This is going to take awhile." He groaned.

          "What? Isn't that how you do it?" she asked. He shook his head.

          "All right, let's start slower." He offered.

          "I'm suppose to be hardcore." She huffed.

          "Yeah, well, unfortunately, our fearless leader isn't. But because she does give us our paychecks, I suggest you not fuck around with her." He shrugged.

          "Fine. Fine. Teach away." She stood up.

          "I got it. I talk the most for you. Just say hello. Just respond nicely when she talks to you. Don't do anything else. I can sum it up for you." He explained.

          "But that's not fun." She frowned.

          "Fun for you is making fun of her." He smirked. "Can't do that."

          "This sucks." She pouted.

          "Past it all, she really is better then her dad, at least." He shrugged. "Don't worry. She loves me, for some odd reason. I'll use that." _Just like I'm using you—and you'll never know, either._

She had to hold back a snicker.


	10. Through Thick Or Thin

**Chapter 10 – Through Thick Or Thin**

**A/N:** Yep, working on this story again…LoL, hopefully I still got the bitchiness in me. ^__^

          "Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Sam looked at Rob, who was staring at her as she stretched out.

          "Actually, I am a little hungry." She wearily nodded. She really hadn't eaten in a long time. _Hey, as long as I'm all friendly with him, free food is a definite bonus here. _She stood up, stretching her back backwards until she heard the satisfying crack. "You have anything?"

          "Not yet, but I was going to grab a sandwich for myself. Want me to get you one?" he looked at her.

          "I don't have any money." She responded. That was partly true. She could get the money, but she didn't feel like doing it. Rob smiled good-naturely at her.

          "Don't worry, I'll buy it for you. Any special requests or do you want me to guess?" he asked.

          "Turkey. Just get me something with turkey." She replied, nodding.

          "You got it. I'll be back." He turned and walked out the room. Sam watched as he left, then shook his head.

          "Too easy." She mumbled to herself again, continuing to be amused by the simple-mindedness of Rob. She got up, glancing around the room. It was more or less a typical male sort of room, nothing wildly special. _Too bad Stephanie can't be found; I was looking forward to talking to her._ She chuckled dryly at the thought. Stephanie was going to pose an annoying threat to her, but she would need to stay cool if she wanted anything out of her. It was pretty easy to get along with Rob, but with everyone else…

          _I'll have to put up with Mr. What Guy too. Lovely. Don't know I'll get him to like me, though I don't think he likes Rob too much either. _She sighed, a bit loudly. _Kurt must be ballistic by now. Me disappearing and all. And he can't do a thing about it, ha ha! I love being me…_She walked around idly, looking through Rob's stuff. He really was a pretty average guy, that was for sure. Nothing special at all. Sighing, frustrated, she flopped down on the cleaner bed and flipped on the TV.

          Rob came back, toting two sandwiches. She winced when her stomach growled loudly. _Guess I'm hungrier then I thought. _He walked over and handed her a sandwich, then sat next to her. She couldn't help but smile as she watched him gleefully open the covering for his sandwich.

          "Hungry too, huh?" she asked, starting to open her own. He nodded.

          "Keep forgetting the whole eating thing. I'm always too busy." He shrugged. "Go figure."

          He bit into his sandwich and she went back to opening her own. The smell of the food made her mouth water, and she couldn't help but dig in as well. She noticed he glanced her way again.

          "I never got to thank you—" he swallowed what was left in his mouth. "For what you did."

          "What do you mean?" she questioned.

          "After our match, you helping me to the back. You didn't have to do that." He responded. "It was pretty cool you did though."

          _He looks like he really did appreciate it. I hate to admit it, but I honestly was worried about him. He was pretty busted up. _She managed a smile and shook her head. "It was nothing."

          "And I'm glad you're finally at least trusting me a little." He continued. "You really impress me."

          She sighed a little, berating herself silently for actually being a bit happy she had gotten his respect. "You're pretty good too, even though I hate to admit it." She replied, honestly. "I guess you're not so stupid after all."

          "I'm still gonna kick your ass next match." He commented idly, taking another bite out of his food. She glanced at him, smirking, and found him all ready looking at her, a mischievous smile on his face.

          "You sound confident." She replied.

          "You're either confident or you're scared, especially when you're wrestling like we do. Don't you agree?" he questioned.

          "Never thought of it that way."

          "You're about as confident as I am." He grinned at her.

          "Because I know I can win." She said, almost haughtily.

          Rob nodded at this. "Well, I'm sure you silenced the skeptics."

          "Were you skeptical?" she inquired, interested. _He probably thought I was some weak little psycho._

          He thought a moment, then shook his head. "Never had a doubt in my mind you could kick some ass. If I knew you were Kurt's cousin, though, that might have lessened a little." He wrinkled his nose. "Again, I must ask, how did you end up with that guy as a cousin?"

          "Not luck, that's for sure." She grumbled. "He's so annoying. I mean, he thinks I should be like all the other girls…parade around in my undies, look like a fuckin' whore—that ain't me. I like to fight. I like to smash heads in."

          "I can vouch for that." He rubbed his head. "You know, I think you gave me around 3 bumps on my head."

          "You asked for it." She rolled her eyes.

          "Very true." He nodded. He grinned at her again. "You know, I knew we could get along."

          Sam sighed at this, and shrugged uncomfortably. She hadn't realized she was talking so much, and actually not making herself do so. Rob had this infectious energy that she was unintentionally feeding off of. _This is just business, remember._

"So, how are we gonna go about this little 'I wanna join ECW' thing?" she asked, quickly changing the subject. She put the remains of her eaten sandwich to the side and looked at him.

          "Well, since Stephanie isn't around, guess we gotta talk to Austin."

          "Austin? Big bald guy, right?"

          "Yeah, that guy. You remember, the one you bumped into, making him spill his coffee on his wife. Oh, and also the one you made fun of to the point he was about to kill you. That one." Rob smirked.

          "Think he'll like me?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

          Rob gave her a look. "Just…let me do the talking, all right?"

          "What? Are you saying I can't talk without pissing people off?" she asked, innocently.

          "Yes." Rob nodded.

          "Oh. Right."

~~

          "Remember, smile big and don't comment about his overuse of the word what. Are you good at sucking up?"

          "No."

          Rob sighed. "No, I didn't think so."

          "Can I please comment on how stupid he is?" she pouted.

          "You know, anyone else would have probably left you to rot with your attitude." He reminded.

          "Yeah, I guess I need to hit more people in the head with trash cans. That's how we became 'buddies', right?" she smirked.

          He stared at her for a second, shook his head, and knocked on the door. _I don't wanna be nice to this jackass…damnit, the things I do, I swear…_

"WHAT?" The door swung open and Sam flinched as the smell of beer invaded her senses. _Great, the head of this stupid group is some beer guzzling Texan. And people wonder why this company is going to get its ass kicked. _His eyes narrowed at them. "What the hell do you want, RVD? What? I asked you what the hell you want."

          Sam stopped herself from commenting at all. _No way, he's TOO easy._

          "Hey, Austin. How's it going?" Rob grinned his usual wide smile.

          "Did you come here to bother me with your small chit chat? What? I asked you what the hell do you want!" he glowered.

          "Actually you—" Sam began.

          "Austin, you remember Sam, right?" Rob quickly cut her off. He gave a sideway glance at her and she rolled her eyes, looking annoyed.

          Austin gazed at Sam with a furious glare. "What's this bitch doing here?"

          "Bitch? Why you—"

          "Haha, she's not a bitch, Steve. Really." Rob said, quickly, almost panicked. He glanced at her again, and she knew he saw she was getting really mad. 

          "Well I beg to differ about your little girlfriend, RVD. What? I said I don't like her!" he glared at her.

          _Well the feelings are reflected, pal._ Sam snorted, crossing her arms, attempting to cool down. "But Steve, she wants to join the Alliance." He motioned to her. "She says that she'd love to…uh…wallow in your greatness." _Wallow in your greatness? The fuck?! He's making me sound like a fucking joke! _She glared at him but he ignored her. It seemed to be working. "She—We—think you're an excellent leader, sir." He elbowed her in the side.

          She sighed inwardly. "Yeah, yeah, you're the coolest. Woo woo." She grudgingly said with no enthusiasm at all.

          Austin eyed her suspiciously. "What? Aren't you with Vince?"

          "She left the WWF. She's too hardcore for them. We're all about helping out people who don't fit in to Vince's stupid business, right?" Rob nodded to her. "She's a great ally to have with the female part of the wrestling business, hell, even the male one."

          Austin looked like he was considering. _He'd better say yes after this shit or I'm going to bash his head in with a foreign object. Maybe add a little 'What' screaming to add to the effect…wow, I really wanna do that, now that I think about it. Say no! Say no!_ "So you want to be apart of the Alliance, huh?"

          "Yeah." She replied, trying not to glare at him.

          "Well…what's your name again?" he asked, smirking at her.

          "Sa—"

          "What? Nevermind. So you think you're hardcore? What? You think you're hardcore? Well, I'm sure you'll have no problem proving your loyalty to your new company." He smiled almost evilly at her. "How about a tag team match?" He looked at Rob. "What? Does that sound good to you, RVD?"

          "…It's cool." He shrugged.

          "Against the Acolytes." Austin continued. _Who are the Acolytes? I don't even remember seeing them._ "Now get the hell out of here, both of you. What? Oh, and by the way, RVD…if you lose with her, you lose your spot in this company too. I'll see to it."

          Rob opened his mouth to speak but Austin slammed it shut in his face. He slowly turned to Sam, who blinked. "Who's the Acolytes?"

          Rob shook his head. "Get ready for a fight." Sam decided not to notice the overall worried look on his face. "You got my back, right?"

_          They won't hit us too hard…they gotta make sure I get into the company…right? _Sam looked at him and gave him the most confident smile she could muster. "Through thick or thin." She replied. "I got your back."

          She just kept reminding herself that they weren't supposed to do anything to her that would make the plan fail.


	11. The Match To Prove Her Fake Loyalties…

**Chapter 11 – The Match To Prove Her Fake Loyalties…**

                _These guys are not very nice._ Sam looked dizzily up at the large man looming over her_. I don't think they've been briefed about my mission. Too bad for them. I was gonna take it easy on them too…_

Sam kicked up, landing a direct his to his opponent's face. She must have caught him off balance, because he staggered back, holding his nose. She quickly stood up to find she had busted his nose up. Blood was flowing freely from it, and she gave a malicious grin. _I do so love when unexpected injuries happen, especially when I'm the one doing the injuring._

"Aw, does big bad white idiot have a little nosebleed?" she taunted. Bradshaw, who was at the time tending to his injured nose, looked up and glared at her.

                She glanced to the ring and saw Rob was still doing fine on his own, so she went back to distracting the man in front of her. "Bradshaw, ain't it? What are you gonna do, tough guy, cry about your injury or try to get me?"

                He ran at her with sudden speed, and she groaned as she was driven into one of the barriers. She fell to one knee as she clutched her stomach, wincing. _Wow, that kinda hurt…and he's bleeding all over me…yeah, this is definitely a fun match._

                "I don't hit girls." He said, spitefully. "But I think you can be an exception."

                She winded up and smashed her hand into his knee as he taunted her. It took mere seconds for the knee to let out and he fell to the ground, wincing. Sam got up, still winded, feeling the effects of the huge man smashing into her. She ignored the pain and spin kicked him in the head as he attempted to ebb the pain in his knee.

                _I really love that knee move, it continues to show it's worth every time I use it._ Bradshaw seemed to be seeing stars from the kick, but he still tried to get up, his body weight on his good knee. Sam glanced at the ring again and found the ref's back to her. Her grin grew as she produced a small iron pipe. _This should slow him down._

                She smashed it into the by then all ready hurt leg and he cried out in pain, doubling over. Any thoughts of getting up were lost with the hit, obviously. _I didn't break anything, didn't hit him hard enough. He'll be moving it in an hour or so, once the stinging stops…but I'll let him think he broke it just for the fun of it. Ha ha._

She turned her attention to her partner, throwing the pipe aside, where the ref couldn't see it. Rob was now on the receiving end of the blows, and the big black guy that was Bradshaw's partner was about to clothesline him. She saw he was going to use the ropes for speed, so she took it upon herself to pull the top rope down. She smirked as he fell backwards, landing on the ground outside the ring. She picked him up, or sort of did, considering he was a little taller. Rob suddenly flew by, hitting the big black man back with a baseball slide. He flew backwards, crashing into the announcer's table, landing on one of the poor announcers. A quick study of her surroundings told her that it was Michael Cole pinned to the ground now, as the ever loud Paul Heyman stood there and snickered at his condition.

                Rob grabbed the black man and dragged him back to the ring.

                She only smirked as the WWF ref was basically forced to count. _Maybe they were holding back, that was a little too easy._ She looked at all the downed bodies, which included poor Michael Cole. _Look at what happened to my shirt! It's all bloody! I mean, usually it looks pretty cool, but this match was just plain dumb and pointless. It didn't deserve blood!_

Both she and Rob looked up to see Austin start to walk down, his music blaring suddenly. _Come on, you bastard; give me one reason to break one of your bones…gee, that's a nice thought too!_ She regarded the WWF champion coolly as he walked in and walked right to her. She refused to break his glare, refused to be the weak one.

                She noticed the microphone in his hand, and she knew he was going to talk. _Lovely. I get to smell his nasty beer breath again._ "So you think you're so great, don't you? What?"

                The crowd responding with a resounding 'What' cheer. She continued to glare at him as he let her talk for once. "Yes, I do think I'm great."

                She saw Rob nod out of the corner of her eye. Austin did too, and he turned to Rob. Rob, too, did not seem to be bothered by Austin's attempts to scare them. He just stared at him like he was more of a bother then any sort of help.

                "RVD, do you think she's Alliance material? What? Do you?" he questioned. RVD nodded. "Well, that doesn't matter, does it? What? It's up to me." He turned to Sam again. "You think you're so good. Woo, I'm the little scary girl that can hit people with cans! Do you think that impresses Stone Cold Steve Austin? AHH-AHH! No way!"

                Sam stared at Austin, trying to control her temper. _If I wasn't on this damn mission, I think I would have broken this guy's jaw by now…sigh…better stop tempting myself. _"I just destroyed the two guys you sent after me. You're either with me or against me." She replied through clenched teeth. "If you're against me, I'll make sure to hurt you ten times more then I did them."

                Even RVD was surprised by the threat, but Austin was doubly so. He stared at her like she had hit him in the face. "What did you just say to me?"

                "Do I need to repeat myself slower so you can understand me?" she responded, feeling the pent up anger rising up.

                Before the fight could escalate any more, music started playing that made all three of them in the ring whirl around. Down came Shane McMahon, whom she had obviously met before. _I hope he's coming down with good news._ She glared at Austin, realizing she had a perfect chance to hit him in the back of the head with something. _Tempting, again, but I better not…probably won't look too good._

He walked into the ring, glancing at all three of them. "Am I hearing correctly? You want to join us?" he asked, pointing at Sam. She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. "I thought you joined the WWF."

                He handed the mic over to her so she could explain herself. She ignored the death glare that was directed at her by Austin. "Shane, the WWF is crap." She replied, smirking. Various boos entered the arena. "Vince had the audacity to tell me to hand over my title…" she motioned to the belt she had picked up before this whole thing happened, "just because I wasn't male. I worked my ass off for this thing, and to hell I'd ever do that. I thought may I could get a little more respect in this company, like I thought in the first place."

                Shane looked satisfied with her answer. _Too easy. This idea was great. _"Well, my father always was a jackass, I told you that before." He glanced at Austin. "And I don't know about anyone else, but your display of skill you just showed impressed me. If you want to join the Alliance, well, you're welcome here."

                Austin said nothing.

                _That's right, keep glaring bald boy. The minute I show my plan to the world you'll be the first person I break in half, mark my words…_ She glanced at him and gave him almost a secretive smirk. _And I'll enjoy doing it. Extremely._

          


	12. A Perfect Ending To A Perfect Bad Day

**Chapter 12 – A Perfect Ending To A Perfect Bad Day**

          "You whipped them." Rob said when they were finally alone. She gave him a sideways glance as she started to unlace her wrestling boots.

          "You had any doubts?" she inquired. He shook his head quickly.

          "I'm starting to sort of learn that I really can't count on anything with you." He responded, stretching. _If you only knew._ "In a good way, of course."

          "Not always a good way." She responded, almost hinting at her deceptive nature at the moment. He, because of his obvious naivety, did not pick it up.

          "I wouldn't expect so." He grinned. "After all, you are a hardcore wrestler, and that belt has a 24/7 deal. Gotta be sneaky, right?"

          "Right." She replied, fighting the urge to have pity on him. _He actually trusts me. Fuck. I had to be bothered by the only decent—wait a second, what the hell am I thinking? Who cares about what he feels…not my problem he's such an idiot._ "Always gotta be sneaky." _Always._

"See? What did I tell you? You didn't even have to be bothered by Stephanie either." He glanced at her. "Wh-what are you doing?"

          She rolled her eyes, stopping mid-way. She had begun to pull her shirt off to change it into more comfortable clothing. "I swear! You males! It's NOT like you haven't seen a girl in a bra before." She turned to look at him.

          "I didn't mean…I…no, it's all right. I was just…surprised is all." He attempted to ebb the blush that was oncoming. "Didn't mean anything by it."

          "Whatever," she rolled her eyes, pulling it off completely, rummaging through her stuff. She could feel his eyes on her, and she suddenly herself began to feel uncomfortable. She usually wasn't shy about taking off her clothing, as long as she had something underneath. But this time, it was different. This time, she realized, she felt a bit self-conscious.

          She pulled on a shirt that was about ten sizes too big for her. Looking down, she realized it was one of Rob's shirts that she had stolen from him since she had neglected to grab anything to wear when she wanted to sleep. _This thing's gonna make me smell like a guy…yeesh. _"Comfortable?" he finally managed to ask.

          "It's a little big," she responded, pulling up one of the shoulder areas so it covered where it was supposed to cover. "But it'll do."

          She had to almost make herself take her pants off, reminding herself that she wished not to be wearing crusted with blood clothing. She had gotten it off her arms, which was the only part it touched besides her clothing. She quickly put on her sweatpants and stretched.

          "Austin's going to be up your ass." He suddenly said, shaking his head.

          "He is with you too." She replied, shrugging. "I know you only sucked up to him to get him to give me a chance…"

          "It was worth it." He chuckled. "Won't he be surprised when I go back to normal."

          "Yeah, well, I'm ready to go back to the hotel. Are you?" she looked at him.

          "Yeah, I've been ready." It was true, he had dressed in the showering area in their locker room. It was probably why he was surprised she wasn't so concealing with her own dressing. _He should know by now that there's nothing concealing about me with the outer appearance…_

They got to the hotel a little over 20 minutes later. She managed to get out of the room without him by making up an excuse that she wanted to go grab something to eat. He bought that easily. She snuck to where she remembered hearing Kurt was staying and knocked on the door.

          After a minute it opened and Kurt was now standing there, looking half asleep. It took him no more then two seconds to wake up when he saw who had woken him up.

          "You have a HELL of a lot of nerve coming here." Sam just rolled her eyes and pushed Kurt, and herself, into the room. She closed the door behind her.

          "Don't burst an artery, Kurtie." She rolled her eyes. "I need you to tell Vince I haven't learned much yet, but I'll keep him updated."

          "Why are you doing this?" Kurt asked, stepping forward.

          "Doing what? Helping your fucking precious company? Because I want too. I thought you'd be happy I got more into the 'team spirit'." She responded sharply.

          "You're also using Rob." He added. "I won't pretend to like the guy, because I don't, but for some insane reason he actually likes you. What's going to happen when he finds out he put his job on the line for someone who turned out to just be using him?"

          Sam glared at him icily. What the hell does he know? "Well I guess it will just be a lesson for him. It's not my problem." She waved a hand. "I'm outta here."

          "God! Do you have any feelings at all!?" he asked, exasperated.

          "I don't need feelings." She muttered angrily, leaving the room through the door she opened. Before Kurt could say anything else she shut the door and walked back toward Rob's room.

          _Fucking son of a bitch, always trying to make me seem like I should pity people. Pity always leaves to weakness, and I can't have that. Ever._ She entered the little vending machine area and let her head rest against one of the machines as she tried to stop the anger that was boiling up inside. She wanted to punch something, anything.

          Two seconds later, she was holding her hand, staring at the shattered glass that was now splayed around her. In a fit of rage she had broken the vending machine's so called shatter-proof glass. She continued to breathe heavily, glaring at nothing in particular. _Son of a bitch…_

          "Nice shot." She jumped at the sudden voice. Still cradling her hand, she turned to find a familiar man staring at her.

          "Raven." She muttered, not even realizing she remembered his name. He took a step closer to her, though he seemed cautious.

          "You and the vending machine have a disagreement?" he asked, nodding toward the shattered machine.

          "No." she responded, her words coming out spiteful sounding. "It was just in my general view."

          "You're bleeding." He continued, pointing at her hand. She looked at it and realized that he wasn't lying. Her blood was dripping down to the ground from a wound on her hand.

          "Whatever." She responded, rolling her eyes. He stared at her for a moment, then shook his head.

          "You'll never be a good hardcore wrestler." He stated lowly. She looked up at him, narrowing his eyes.

          "What did you just say?" she demanded.

          "You can never be a good hardcore wrestler until you learn how to control your anger." He explained. "Right now you're just like some street fighter, and that'll just get you seriously hurt."

          "Why the fuck should I listen to you?" she smirked, glaring at him.

          "Because I know how it feels." He said slowly. "To feel the anger all the time, just trying to get out…nothing stops it, everything you try just makes you feel it more. After a while you just let it take over, because it's the only way you get release from it. But in doing so…" He regarded her with narrowed eyes. "you lose all control of yourself, allowing you to succumb to violent rages." Sam stared at him, not exactly knowing what to think about what he had just said. "I understand, because I'm in that place every day, every moment."

          "Just…leave me alone." She pushed past him, suddenly unnerved. _He…has no clue what he's talking about. He's just some weirdo…yeah, that's all…_

"Oh my god, what happened?" Rob looked at her hand, then at her. _Oops. Forgot about that little thing._

          "The machine took my money." She lied. He stared at her like she was crazy.

          "So you…broke it with your fist?" he guessed, still staring.

          "Something like that." She mumbled.

          "Well…" he trailed off. "Better get it cleaned up, either way."

          "It's all right…" she shook her head.

          "Just humor me for a second, all right?" he gave her a look. Lovely. Just lovely.

          "Fine." She grudgingly agreed. She let him lead her into the bathroom.

          He turned on the water and put the wound under it. She winced as it touched her injured area. "Ow! Son of a bitch!"

          "Just as I thought." He looked at it closely, ignoring her. "You have a glass shard in it. It's pretty big though, I could get it out…" She winced as he pulled the piece out. "There. Man, you really did a number. I'd hate to see the vending machine."

          She couldn't stop a small smile appear on her face. The second she realized it was there, though, she made sure to make it go. _This day is getting worse and worse. _She looked down to find him bandaging it up with one of the elastic sort of bandages that she usually put on pulled body parts or the like. She hated to admit it, but it did feel a lot better now. When she remembered that her hand was damaged, it hurt like hell. Now it barely even stung.

          "That should do it." He looked up at her. "I'm sure you know how to keep wounds cleaned, right? You ARE a hardcore wrestler."

          "O-of course." She nodded, shaking her head clear. She flexed her hand. "It doesn't hurt."

          "You sound surprised." He commented.

          "It was hurting like crazy before." She continued, shaking her head. "How did you…?"

          "Do that?" he asked, and she nodded. "It's a lotion a friend of mine from Japan taught me how to make. All my bands have the stuff on it. Here, smell the bandage." She looked at him, a little cautious. "Go ahead, it won't bite you."

          "I know." She mumbled, putting her hand to her nose. Instantly she smelled the almost overpoweringly sweet smell that was coming from it. "Potent stuff." She wrinkled her nose.

          "Wanna know how to make it?" he inquired, looking at her. She stared back at him, biting her lip.

          "You'd teach me?" she asked after a long pause.

          "Why not?" he shrugged. "It's pretty easy."

          "…All right, if you want to teach me…" she agreed, almost reluctantly. He gave her one of his wide grins and nodded. _He's offering, after all._

          "Great! See, all you have to do…"


	13. Elevators and Empty Coffee Pots…Oh My!

**Chapter 13 – Elevators and Empty Coffee Pots…Oh My!**

          She awoke, finding herself curled up on the bed. She shut her eyes tightly again, willing herself back to sleep. She didn't want to wake up. She was so warm and comfortable. But when she was up, she was up, and she stopped fighting it after five minutes. She propped herself on her elbow, glancing around sleepily.

          She barely remembered the night before. It was almost like a blurred image in her head. RVD had showed her how he made the lotion that had basically ended all the pain on her hand. She was honestly impressed by his ease in teaching her, his patience when she didn't get a single part in his explanation. But what she really hated to admit that he was growing on her, even though he was.

          She just chose to ignore it.

          She got up, walking sleepily to the bathroom. She stopped a moment, hearing the familiar sounds of snoring. _Still out like a light. Must be a late sleeper. _She suddenly felt compelled to look at him, to see him in his most defenseless moment. It was strange, but she just felt like she wanted to see him at that moment.

          _Stop being weird. _She continued her walk to and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She looked at herself in the mirror, grimacing a bit. A black bruise had formed on her cheek overnight, undoubtedly from the fight last night. The guys were tough, much bigger then her, and even she had doubts when she first saw them. RVD was normal sized, what she was used to. These men were big brawlers.

          _Not the worst I've gone against, but those suckers were tough. _She sighed, looking down at her bandaged hand._ That Raven guy freaks me out. Rage building up, ha! He doesn't know a thing about my life and my rage never mind me myself. I wonder if he's always so strange._

She sighed, knowing full well she would end up searching the strange man out. Of course, before she did that, she wanted to know a little bit about him. _And the man who will help me with finding out more on him is Rob. He seems like he knows him, after all._

She walked back out, more purposefully. He was still asleep. _Can't have this. Heh, I think I'll have a little fun with this. _She smirked mischievously, slowly going on his bed, putting her face right by his ear. He twitched but did nothing else. "Rob…oh Rob…!" she whispered in his ear. He moved a bit.

          "No, I don't want to wake up." He mumbled, still obviously asleep. _He asked for this._

          She took a breath and screamed 'WOO!' in his ear.

          Rob fell off the bed, looking like he was about to have a heart attack. "What?! Wha…" He looked up at her on his bed. She was now laughing her butt off at his almost terrified and dazed look. _Knew that stupid scream Angle did would be useful someday. _"…The hell is going on?"

          "Good morning." She said with fake innocence. He continued to look at her, still half asleep most likely.

          "Where am I?" he asked, looking around. It dawned on him that he was on the floor, which confused him more. "…Why am I on the ground? And why are you on my bed?"__

"Oh, don't you remember? We slept together." She joked, but his face visibly paled. "Gees, kidding." _Like I'd touch him...yuck._

"…I knew that." He stood up, stretching, still looking a little out of it. "I had this weird dream that Kurt Angle was screaming in my ear. Wasn't cool at all."

          "You're so weird." She rolled her eyes. She sat cross-legged on his bed. "I have something to ask you."

          "Ask me?" he asked, blinking. "Man, now I know I'm dreaming."

          "Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" she glared at him.

          "What's the question?" he asked, rubbing his face sleepily.

          "Tell me about Raven." She said simply. He looked at her, blinking.

          "Raven? Why do you wanna know about him?" he questioned. "Scoping out your next target?"

          "Something like that." She shrugged.

          "Well, whatever. What do you want to know?" he asked, looking at her with a curious stare.

          "I don't know, whatever." She responded. Rob looked thoughtful for a second.

          "I don't know, he's sort of quiet. Off in his own world. He uses a lot of big words, I know that." He nodded his head. "Just your typical run of the mill smart quiet types. Of course, that's before he goes into the ring. He's crazy in the ring most of the time, especially when it's no holds barred. I have no qualms with him, though. He's just a bit strange."

          _I could have told you that. _"Anything else?" she asked. He looked at her, a bit confused.

          "Like what?" he asked.

          "I don't know, he seems sort of dark."

          "Well, that too of course. He's just a guy you can't actually figure out." He grinned. "Hell of a wrestler, though. I've had some interesting fights with him."

          "Oh. All right." She nodded. This wasn't getting her anywhere. He continued to look at her.

          "What?" she asked, irritably. He shook his head.

          "Nothin'." He replied, innocently. He looked at her bruised cheek. "Did the vending machine do that too?"

          "Funny." She retorted.

          "I know." He replied innocently, not noticing the look she shot him.

          "No, I got this from the match last night. Knew I wouldn't be able to get away with no injuries with that match." She shook her head. "Oh well, I've had worse."

          "Spoken like a true hardcore wrestler." He gave a grin. She nodded.

          "Damn right." She agreed, cracking her knuckles. "Man, I wish I could bash Austin's head in."

          "You really ought to be wary of the guy, Sam." Rob responded to her statement.

          "I'm not—"

          "I know you're not afraid of him." He interrupted. "But unless you want him to make your life a living hell I would cool it down, just a little. Austin's slow, you can make fun of him without him knowing if you play your cards right."

          "Got that for sure." Sam reluctantly agreed after a pause. "Fine, I'll lay off him…a little."

          "Good enough." Rob rolled his eyes. "We have stuff today, by the way."

          "Like what?" she inquired.

          "Some weird meeting. I don't know, it's pointless."

          "Ah." Sam nodded, inwardly grinning. _Perfect. I'll get some info to report today._

"I'm gonna take a shower. You need to go in before?" She shook her head. "All righty then."

          She waited to hear the shower start before she quickly pulled out an entirely new outfit. She shed her old clothing and quickly pulled on the new ones. Looking down to inspect herself, she was satisfied obviously with her overly large sweatshirt and jogging pants. _He won't mind me sneaking out, right? Oh, who gives a shit._

          She pulled on her shoes and left the room. Some strange thing inside her was telling her that she had to see Raven again, even as much as she hated him and his glum, morose, unusually cryptic way of being and wished he would just be normal. _Insanity loves company…I really hate that saying._ She rolled her eyes, mostly at herself and her weird way of acting.

          _It's still early; this is stupid. I'll never find him. _Remembering she saw a little place that gave out coffee in the lobby, she decided that that would be as good a place as ever to look for him. She waited for the elevator and was shocked to see none other then Chris Jericho in it when it opened.

          _Fancy meeting him here._ She walked into the elevator and waited until it closed to talk to him.

          "How's it going, Blondie?" she smirked. He glanced at her and rolled his eyes.

          "Pretty well. You wouldn't have happened to be the one who pressed all the buttons, did you?" he asked, motioning to the all lit up board. There were seven floors to the hotel and they were only on four. She made a face.

          "I just got in here, how could I?" she inquired.

          "I don't know, just seems like a trick you'd pull." He replied, stretching. "I'm doing fine, by the way…how's life with Rob?"

          She half-hid her perfectly bandaged hand, for some reason embarrassed. "He's annoying."

          "Being good, I hope?" he glanced at her.

          "Well I fucked his brains out yesterday." She replied sarcastically, catching Chris by surprise. She rolled her eyes. "I'm kidding, breathe. I'm not THAT bad." She wagged her finger. "After all, I'm lying for money now! I have to have some morals!"

          "But I thought lying for money was prostitution." Chris gave a wry grin.

          "If I was more awake, you would have gotten your ass kicked for that comment, you know that, right?" she responded, looking deadpan.

          "Oh yeah." Chris cracked his knuckles.

          The door opened, signaling that it was floor five. No one was there, which was probably good considering that the two being seen together would seem suspicious. After all, they were on different sides now. _There's something about him that just brings some weird form of comfort. Guess it's 'coz he's my first 'buddy' in this place._ Sam mad a face at her own thoughts. _Blech._

"Seriously, though, how's it going? RVD not being weird, right?" Chris asked.

          "Perfect gentleman." She replied, shaking her head. "Dumb fuck."

          "Glad you're so cool about it." He casually looked at her.

          "Why wouldn't I be?"

          "I don't know, don't you feel—"

          "Don't even try to act like Kurt. I all ready got that lecture. No, I don't feel bad. It's his own fault trusting someone from the other federation so easily." She stated, a sharp tone to her voice.

          "All right, all right, gees, don't bite my head off here." He put his hands up in a defensive manner. "I was just sayin'…I dunno, it's cool you're doing this for the WWF though."

          "Yeah, well, you know me, Miss Team Player." She replied with a wink. Chris burst out laughing.

          "Oh yeah, that's you definitely."

          "I'm hurt Chris Jericho, are you saying I'm not a team player?" she asked, mockingly surprised.

          "The day you're a team player, I think the world's gonna end."

          Sam considered this. "Gives you a lot of hope for the future, huh?"

          "Definitely." He confirmed. Another floor passed by without an incident. "Where are you off too this morning, anyway? Meeting?"

          _I'm going to look for a strange man who wears braids and saw me attack an inanimate object._ "Something like that." She replied without a pause.

          "Anyone suspecting you yet?" he asked after a short silence between them.

          "Chris, I haven't seen Stephanie yet."

          "Damn." He muttered.

          "Sometimes I wonder about you." She eyed him.

          "What? I just wanted to know if you made her cry yet." He replied innocently.

          "You totally got a crush on her." She prodded.

          "Hey! Take that back!" he glared at her.

          "No way." She shook her head stubbornly.

          "Fine! Then I won't talk to you."

          "Fine!"

          "Fine!"

          "FINE!"

          They turned their backs to each other, both holding the same locked stance, arms crossed over their chests, both glaring at really nothing. After five seconds, Chris spoke up. 

          I still wanna know every detail of the fight when you two have it." He said, sounding enthusiastic.

          "Every single one." Sam agreed easily. "And there will be many."

          "Excellent." They looked at each other and shared the same look of mischievous evil on their faces.

          Chris got off at the second floor, bidding her goodbye. She was glad no one had decided to use the elevator the minutes they were in there. Finally it reached the lobby floor and she got out, glad to be in a wider space.

          She went to where the coffee pot was to find it empty. She stared at it for a long time. "After all that, it fucking figures." She finally said, shaking her head in disgust. "God, what else could go wrong?" She turned and screamed bloody murder, suddenly realizing someone was behind her. People stared at her like she was nuts.

          It was Raven.

          "Do you enjoy fucking giving people heart attacks?" she asked, glaring at him. He smirked, his eyes regarding her almost in amusement.

          "You've been looking for me." He said coolly. She stared at him.

          "How would you know?" she challenged.

          "Just a feeling." He replied calmly. He walked up to her, so close that she could feel his breath against her neck. "I know what you're up too." He whispered in her ear, causing her to jerk back, surprised.

          "I'm not up to anything." She replied sharply. He remained unconvinced.

          "Afraid of me letting out your little secret?" he asked, raising a brow. She glared at him. "That you're not here to join the Alliance?"

          _Uh-oh, caught…_ "I suppose you're going to run and tell Shane, right?"

          "On the contrary, I'm going to wish you luck." He responded, a coy grin forming. "Any sort of thing like this is bound to bring up action." He eyed her. "And I think how you're so blatantly screwing people over is brilliant. I could never destroy a mission like yours."

          She stared at him. _Well, that reply was...unexpected. _"But it could mean you losing your job." She replied in a hushed voice. He smirked at her.

          "Granted, if that happens, at least I'll be one of the people who wasn't fooled by your fake 'Boo hoo I'm repressed and treated unequally' bullshit." He rolled his eyes.

          "…I'm not repressed…" she pouted.

          "Either way, I won't say a single word. Would much rather see this play out." He shrugged.

          She went silent for a minute, then let herself ask. "What were you talking about last night?"

          "What? About how without control of your anger you are prone to disaster?" he asked, glancing her over.

          "Yeah, that." She mumbled.

          "Us hardcore wrestlers don't just become the way we are because we like hitting people with chairs." He explained, leaning against the table with the empty coffee pot. "There is anger stemming from every part of our being, deep anger from things ranging from family to life itself." He stared at her intently. "You will be the best when you learn to use the anger as a tool."

          "And how, Mr. Wise Hardcore Guru, am I expected to do that?" she asked, crossing her hands over her chest.

          "Before every match, think about all that you hate in life. By the end of your match, all that hate will subside enough so it won't come out until the next one." Raven shrugged. "At least that works for me anyway."

          "So I'm suppose to prep myself into anger?" she asked, looking unsure.

          "That is the basics of it, yes." Raven agreed. He noted the look she was giving him. "You don't have to believe me, but it's true." He looked her over again. "You'll be a good wrestler one day, I believe. Good luck on that silly quest you're on."

          Before she could say anything, he was gone again, disappearing into a crowd of people entering the hotel. She thought about going after him but decided not to. _Better get back to the room, we have a meeting to go too._


	14. Sam's First Alliance Meeting

**Chapter 14 – Sam's First Alliance Meeting**

          "You're not kidnapped!" She almost fell backwards in shock when RVD hugged her the minute she entered. She blinked, feeling herself relax in the embrace before her brain clicked in. She pushed him away lightly, wiping off her shirt.

          "Kidnapped? What are you talking about?"

          "Think you could like…warn me if you're going to go sneaking out?" he tapped his foot testily. She gave him a look.

          "Yes, I'll tell you next time which will of course defeat the whole point of sneaking out as sneaking usually means leaving in secret." She rolled her eyes.

          "So you DID sneak out."

          "No, I left to get some coffee." She replied. _There, that isn't a FULL lie._

"For an hour?" he asked, doubtfully.

          "How's this your business?" she asked with a raised brow.

          "Well, I sort of feel responsible for you…or something." He scratched the back of his head.

          "Why?"

          "'Coz that's what friends do, right?" he asked, looking at her.

          "Who said…" Sam stopped herself when she saw the look of utter loyalty on Rob's face. She had to smile a little, and for once it wasn't at his gullible nature.

          "Who said what?" he asked, peering at her.

          "I…uh…well..." Sam stammered. "Who…said…I was kidnapped?"

          "No one, I just saw your clothes thrown around and I heard noises outside but when I heard them I figured you were defacing my property or something, you know?" he grinned at her.

          She looked at her pile of clothes and rolled her eyes. "Oh, and like you should talk about your mess."

          "Well I'm not the one screwing over the WWF here." He added, shrugging. "But I'm glad you're all right. I heard Jericho was walking around and he's just a big pain in the ass most of the time. Well, a funny pain in the ass, but…don't tell Steph I said that."

          "Won't tell a soul, Rob." She couldn't help but chuckle._ Funny pain in the ass is a pretty good description._

"Good." He winked at her. "Well, not that that's all settled…hows about we grab some breakfast before we head out to see your favorite people in the world?"

          "Can we stop at a liquor store?" she asked, groaning.

          "Now now now, getting plastered won't do you any good and if you didn't know I'm really not into cleaning up puke." He made a face. "*Really* not into it."

          "Can I puke on Stephanie?" she asked with mock hopefulness. He gave her a look, and she sighed loudly at it. "Fine, fine…tch, you're no fun."

          "And you're plain evil." He smirked. She smiled widely.

          "Why thank you! How nice of you to comment! I thought you'd never notice!" He rolled his eyes at her. "What?"

          "Sometimes I wonder about you, Sam." He chuckled lightly.

          "Whatever." She replied. "I live off being a bitch, you know that."

          "You know, sometimes I wonder if that's all a façade." He commented. She stared at him. _Façade? How I act?_

          "There is no façade in this girl. This is how I really am." She quickly defended.

          "Ha ha, calm down, Sam." RVD winked at her. "Just a thought. It's just…I don't know, Kurt was always annoyed and pissy with you, calling you a nuisance and all…is that how he always treated you?"

          She blinked, actually thinking about it. _Kurt always did rag on me, now that I think about it…but who cares? He's a dumb ass._ "I guess so." She shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, suddenly nervous. She didn't exactly love talking about her past. 

          Well, I would think if someone did that to me, I'd always do exactly what I was accused of, right?" he shrugged, looking at her.

          "N-no! It's not like that at all. I just…don't like people." She whirled around, looking steadily at her feet. "There's no room for happy little feelings in me. Just a form of weakness to have used against me."

          "If you say so." She felt him move close to her, and she froze involuntarily, feeling the hairs prickle on her neck as she felt his breath against the back of her neck. "But I've gotten a pretty good rep as a hardcore wrestler, even with being nice."

          She spun and faced him, and a glimmer of a usual wide smile was apparent on his face.  _Why is everyone trying to like…analyze me or whatever…? No one knows what I've been through. No one could understand…_

          "Nice try, Doctor Rob." She replied dryly. He grinned at this, even though she was basically shooting down his little theory.

          "I try." He replied with a thumbs up. "So, how's about we go listen to Austin spit out words with the word 'what' in between each of them? Sound fun?"

          "You wouldn't happen to carry around a hardcore weapon around with you, would you?"

          "Why?"

          "So I can knock myself out so I don't have to subject myself to your leader's insane ramblings any more. The first two times was enough, thank you."

          "Get used to it, Austin talks…a lot…usually about how his wins and losses were for us…" 

          "Great." She groaned, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'll win and lose my own matches, thanks."

          "Exactly what I'm thinking, but I decided it's better to just shut up and enjoy the hilarity of it all. Works for me." He shrugged.

          "Can I imagine myself strangling him?" she asked.

          "You know, that's a good idea. I should try that." Rob looked like he was thinking. "Heh heh, hey, this works pretty well, too."

~~

          "You think I lost because I wanted too?" Sam rolled her eyes for the hundredth time that hour, trying to look totally in love with her 'fearless, loving, caring, fair, etc…' leader. _This guy is a broken record, god. I should have gotten myself plastered or something like that. How could people like this idiot…hell, even act like it?_

"But onto more business…I have a very important announcement to make!" She snapped out her daze to see Austin staring right at her. She tried to shrink into her seat, knowing he was up to something. "We have a new member in our little family."

          "That's right, Austin." Shane stood up, turning to her as well. "Everyone, Sam's going to be helping the Alliance's climb to finally beating my father's company. Her name is Sam."

          A few murmured hellos, and she just shook her head and sighed. After that, attention was placed on the company again, and she was back to being invisible. By the end of the whole meeting, she realized that these guys had no plan at all…just attack and attack until they either win or lose. _Dangerous strategy…they have no clue that if they do it like they're doing it now, their chances of winning are zero._

          At the end of the meeting, she thought she could slip away and report to someone, anyone, about her findings.  But this was not to be, as she was stopped by Shane. Shane told Rob to keep going, so he did, leaving her alone with this man she rarely ever talked too. She shifted on her feet again, nervous.

          "Yeah?" she asked him, uncertain.

          "He can be a bit of a pain, huh?" he nodded to the door, obviously meaning Austin.

          "Yeah." She admitted in a rush. "I wanna kick his ass so bad."

          He smiled at this. "I think that's how most of the wrestlers feel about him. No one will, though, because he's like our lifeline. He's the only one who knows about the company to the level we need someone to know. So…try to tolerate him, huh?"

          She sighed loudly. "I'll try, but no promises."

          "That's all I ask." He nodded. "Now, Stephanie wants to meet you. Haven't even told her a thing about you."

          "You…uh…haven't?" she asked. _Oh boy, wow, that REALLY isn't good. _He shook his head.

          "No, why? Is that a problem?"

          "Listen, before you have me meet her, tell her—"

          She was cut off by the door opening. A gasp of realization sounded behind her and she turned around to see a very angry Stephanie McMahon staring at her.

          "YOU!"

          "Hey Steph, long time no see." She said, quickly gaining back her cool.

          "Don't tell me…" Shane groaned.

          "YOU! Shane! This is the bitch that I told you about! The one with Chris Jericho!"

          "You mean the one who…oh." He looked at Sam. "Well she's the new wrestler."

          "WHAT!? NO!" she shook her head. "No no no no NO!"

          Shane visibly frowned and led his sister to a corner. Though they spoke low, she still could hear what they were saying.

          "She's a bitch! Don't let her join us! It's a trap, I bet!"

          "It's not a trap…listen, Steph, you can't just jump to conclusions because you don't like someone. This is purely business, all right?" Shane glanced at Sam then. _Yeah, if they did that, I'm sure half the company they have now would be jobless. Fucking bitch…_

          "But…" she sighed loudly. "Fine."

          "Fine? Good!" He fully turned to Sam, not seeing the look Stephanie was shooting in her direction. "Welcome to the company, Sam." He offered his hand but she didn't take it.

          "Yeah, whatever. Can I go now?" she asked, annoyed.

          "Of course. " Shane nodded. "Be my guest. See you later."

          She walked past them, intentionally brushing against Stephanie who just huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. She shot her a look before walking out. _Once I can fight the people I want, she'll be up there on my list next to Austin. Revenge will be so sweet…_

          "Took you long enough." She approached Rob, who was leaning against the wall._ Fuck, why didn't he go with his little group?_

"Yeah. Had another fun little meeting with the always lovely Stephanie." She replied bitterly. Rob chuckled as they started to walk away from the room.

          "That bad, huh?"

          "She is totally jealous of me." Sam proclaimed. "She wishes she could be as cool as I am."

          "Glad you're modest." Rob replied with a hint of amusement in his voice.

          "Damn straight I'm modest, I'm the most modest person I know!" she thought a moment. "I feel like change."

          "Change?" he asked, confused. "I have…a nickel in my pocket."

          "Not THAT kind of change." She groaned. "I think I'll color my hair again today."

          "Oh. THAT sort of change." He grinned. "Can I help?"

          "You want to help color my hair?"

          "Yeah! I never did it before."

          "…You're one weird son of a bitch, you know that, right?"

          "So?"

          "NO! You can't help me color my hair. That's…personal."

          "Coloring your hair is personal?"

          "Yes."

          "Why?"

          "'Coz I said so." She huffed. _I could have picked anyone…anyone…to stay with…and I get stuck with this psycho. My head hurts._

"What color are you going to go for?"

          "Probably green, haven't used that."

          "Not puke green, right? 'Coz then your hair would look.."

          "Pukey?" she asked, deadpan.

          "Exactly!" he nodded enthusiastically.

          "Brilliant." She rolled her eyes.

          "I know. Hey, can I pick out the color?"

          She threw her hands up and walked away, shaking her head.

          "What?" he called after her. "Was it something I said?"


	15. The Past Bites You In The Ass

**Chapter 15 – The Past Bites You In The Ass**

          "I like the blue better." Rob stated.

          "I can't believe they were out of green dye." She sighed, looking at her hair in the mirror. Rob was watching her, leaning against the doorframe lazily.

          "Yeah, but good thing I found the last dye case. Toldja I could pick good."

          "You picked out of one. It wasn't a hard choice." She smirked. "But yeah, this color is good enough."

          "What's it called again?" he asked.

          "Ice Wind." She looked at the now empty case. "It's pretty light."

          "I like it." Rob nodded. "Looks nice on you."

          "It's so…"

          "Blue? You know, I was thinking the same thing." He nodded enthusiastically. "Looks like you don't have to sue the company for false advertisement!"

          "Do you ever not look on the bright side?" she asked, looking at him.

          "I find that I'm a lot happier when I look on the bright side." He explained.

          "I'll take that as a resounding no." she stated, walking past him.

          "You should try it once in a while, it's worth the try." He grinned. "I don't think I've ever seen a full blown out smile without you forcing it to be there."

          "Not much to smile about in my world."

          "Your world?"

          "Yeah, reality." She looked at him. "All it has is pain and anger…I shouldn't complain though, does a hell of a lot of helping when it comes to wrestling. Fuels me to hit my opponent all the harder."

          "Why is your reality different from mine?" he asked, peering at her. She took a breath, shaking her head. _I hate thinking about stuff like this. Maybe if I just tell him he'll leave me alone about it._

          "Because, Rob, all I've ever known is what my life is filled of. My parents died when I was ten in a plane crash, I was forced to be brought up with my cousin Kurt whom I was always compared to, and when I finally find myself just as good as him, I find out that because I'm not a guy, I have zero respect anyway, so what the hell is the point? I'm just a poor little orphan who obviously is just mad at the world. Who cares about what I think, I'm just one of the million psycho mental people in this world, why should I be special?"

          She felt her knees buckle and she let herself fall to them, bowing her head so her hair covered her face. _I hate them. I hate them all. My parents…for leaving me…Kurt for being so damn perfect…everything…everyone._

          "Sam…" she heard Rob say softly. She felt sick as feelings of disappointment and hurt let themselves surface along with the memories she had been trying to so violently dispel from her head. All the hiding of them seemed to have made the episode all the worse. She felt tears start to fall and it was then she was ashamed of herself and no one else.

          She did not jerk back when she felt a hand on her shoulder, though she wanted too. She just didn't have the strength. All of it washed away in her flood of tears. She looked up only slightly to see him kneeling too now, frowning slightly.

          "Just leave me alone." She said in a strangled whisper.

          "You're crying." He realized, trying to see her face. He reached out to her and she finally pushed him back, making him fall backwards. She stood up, feeling dizzy, turning away from him in an almost panic. He can't see me like this. She heard a creak behind her and knew he was advancing again. Angrily wiping the tears from her eyes, she refused to turn to him.

          "Go away."

          "Sam…" His voice continued to be light. She turned around, silently seething at everything, from herself to everyone in her life. She just felt herself punch him in the chest, not full force of course. He stood his ground, sort of taking the hit uncomfortably. She did it a few more times, before she felt the energy leave her.

          Next conscious thought she knew, she was crying into Rob's chest, his arms wrapped around her comfortingly. Her mind screamed at her to realize what was happening, but she knew even if she did she wouldn't push him away. Even though she hated to admit it, but just having someone else hold her together for a few minutes would comfort her into calmness, and she knew that.

          She had no rational thought going through her head at all, which probably accounted for the reason that she suddenly found herself kissing him. It was definitely one for the books. It took her a few seconds to finally have her mind realize what she was doing. When that happened, though, she instantly pushed him back, taking a step back herself, touching her hand to her lips in pure and utter shock. _Oh no no no, what the hell did I do?_

          Rob looked at her, a little breathless.

          Then he watched her run out. She heard him call after her, but she didn't want to stop and do anything else she was going to live to regret. With no one to turn to but one person, she grudgingly knocked on the door the minute she got there. The door opened, and Kurt stood there, looking annoyed. He suddenly saw how utterly upset she looked, and his look softened.

          "Sam? Sam, what's wrong?" he asked. Sam put up her brave front, frowning mournfully.

          "Can I stay in here for a while?" she asked.

          "Sure, come on in." he moved aside for her and let her walk in. She walked to one of the beds, sitting on it, putting her face in her hands, trying to gain what little emotional wall she had left so she could be her usual cold self. _Yeah, this is definitely fucking great. I really need this right now._

          "What happened? Are you all right?" She looked up from her hands to see Kurt staring at her.

          "I'm fine." She muttered, annoyed more at herself.

          "Right, because you always cry." He responded sarcastically. She sighed, shaking her head. "All right, so you don't want to tell me. You should at least get rid of the evidence."

          "Evidence?" she asked, staring at him.

          "Yeah, you know, the big tear stains that currently are apparent on your cheeks?"

          "Oh. That." She shook her head and stood up, letting Kurt lead her to the bathroom. She grabbed one of the complimentary washcloths and poured water over it. As she quickly scrubbed her cheeks, she knew Kurt was watching her intently.

          "So…dyed your hair I see."  He commented, obviously trying to make her feel better.

          "Kurt, you don't have to pretend to like me out of pity." She mumbled as she rubbed her cheek.

          "Contrary to popular belief, cousin, I don't hate you…"

          She stood up quickly, pointing her finger accusingly. "Get sentimental on me and I'll snap your non-existent neck, milk boy."

          "You don't even want comfort when you're in THIS state." Kurt rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

          _Yeah, because I got loads of comfort from Rob; too much comfort._ "Thanks for letting me wash up, Kurt. Tell Vince they're just planning on more or less hitting as hard as they can until they win or lose."

          "Wait, Sam…where are you going to go?" he asked as she passed him.

          "I need to take a walk. Like…right now." She opened the door and quickly stepped out.

          She knew Kurt knew better then to try to get her to go back, so he only watched her leave. She knew she couldn't walk around the hotel in fear Rob might look for her, so she left the hotel to walk outside. She didn't stop until near nightfall, where she finally stopped to sit on a bench near a large tree. She sighed, looking down, shaking her head. Why did her past have to haunt her so? How could such little things bring such overloads of emotion to her?

          She closed her eyes, resting them. She had a pounding, splitting headache that seemed to not want to stop. She stayed that for a long time, apparently too long, because she soon drifted off into sleep that proved to haunt her with her past as well.

~~

          Sam couldn't bring herself to look at her parents' casket, tending to stay in the back by herself. People tried to talk to her, but she responded by not even looking at them, simply cuddling a bear against her body, one that looked beaten and worn.

          Her aunt tried to explain what death meant, and her uncle gave her an extra amount of hugs that night. They broke it to her as gently as possible. She wasn't exactly sure what they meant at the time, but now it was sinking in fast. Her parents had died 2 minutes after they took off, from apparent engine failure. She didn't understand all the details.

          She just knew her parents weren't going to wake up.

          She felt angry inside. Angry that her mom and dad were as they were, angry that she was stuck with her aunt and uncle, even though that didn't make so much sense as she loved both of them. Even though it didn't seem like it, the minute her aunt and uncle told her that they were adopting her since they were legally her godparents, it felt almost like they were trying to take her parents' place.

          She didn't want step ins, she wanted the real ones.

          She tuned it all out, and only moved when her aunt picked her up to take her home. She decided that the burial would be too hard on her, and in truth it probably was.

          She cried that whole night; nothing would comfort her. Her aunt came in late that night, before she went to bed, or at least tried to. She had a box in her hand that she gently handed over.

          "Your mother wanted to give this to you for your birthday, but I think I should give this to you now."

          Brushing back tears with a stray hand, she took it and opened it carefully. Inside was a bracelet that seemed too big for her little hand.

          "You'll grow into it." Her aunt explained, placing it around her wrist. She watched it almost slip off her wrist, but she realized right then that she would never take it off again unless she had to.

-

          "You are in so much trouble." She looked up from her hand-held game, smirking widely.

          "And that's new why?" she inquired her cousin, raising a brow.

          "You know, if you put just half of the energy you put into being a pest into your school work, you'd be an A student like me." Kurt pointed out.

          "Well, I wouldn't want to take away from the greatness that is you, Kurtie." She rolled her eyes, annoyed. "And if you haven't noticed, there's a 'Do Not Enter' sign on the door. Not 'Do Not Enter Unless You're Kurt', or 'Do Not Enter Unless You're A Snob', it's just 'Do Not Enter'. Get my hint?"

          "Yeah, I got it." He glared at her. "I don't get you, cousin." He turned and walked out. Just for good measures, she got up and slammed the door shut. 

          "Idiot." She murmured, shaking her head. She looked at her book bag and gave it a swift kick, watching the books fly out of the open top and splash onto the ground. Not caring, she sat on her bed again, playing her game once again. If she could get by with Cs for 16 years, why couldn't she keep up the record?

          She heard her Aunt and Uncle talking. She knew it was about her. She glanced around the room, satisfactorily looking at her various posters of rock and roll artists. She had started collecting recently, getting all the bands she liked to decorate it. After a few minutes, she finally decided to sneak out and see what they were saying. She got up from her bed and left the room, walking to the end of the hall where the kitchen was. She stopped a few feet from the door, listening intently.

          "…I just wish she could be a little more like Kurt, is all." She heard her Aunt sigh.

          "The kid's had a tough life, with her parents dying and everything. It's only natural she's rebelling. It's just a phase, don't worry."

          "But three fights in a week? I don't know how to even talk to her anymore."

          "I know it's hard. But we can't put her against Kurt, that isn't fair to her."

          "Well she could be a little better, or at least try…"

          Sam felt her hand clench. It was always Kurt, Kurt, Kurt…his brothers, her other cousins. They always compared her to them, how horrible of a kid she was next to them. She was just so fed up with it all. Turning, she stalked back to her bedroom.

          "I'll show them rebelling." She muttered angrily under her breath, grabbing a glass cup that was sitting on her drawer. It took seconds for the cup to smash into a million pieces once it connected with the wall she threw it at. In a minute Kurt was back in there, looking confused as he noticed the glass shards on the ground.

          "What happened?" he asked, dumbfounded.

          "Oh, I just felt like breaking something." She replied smugly. He looked at her like she was crazy.

          "Are you nuts?!" he demanded.

          "Yes." She responded, giving him a devilish smile. She kept it as her Aunt and Uncle came in to check what happened.

-

          "Sam!" Sam winced and turned around to see Kurt standing there, one of the biggest smiles she had seen on his face in awhile plastered onto it.

          "I'm working, Kurt." She responded as she put clothes on the rack.

          "I realize that, but I just had to come to tell you the good news!"

          "You're moving out and moving to some remote place in Africa?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

          "Nope. Guess again!" he urged.

          "If it's not that then I don't care." She replied. He followed her as she walked.

          "You're no fun." He shook his head. "I'll tell you anyway though."

          "I should have figured." She rolled her eyes.

          "I got accepted into the Olympics! Me!" he explained excitedly. She turned to him.

          "Oh. That's good. Congrats. Now go away." She turned and continued to walk.

          "I want you to come see me wrestle."

          "I'll see if I can fit that in." she replied dryly.

          "Offer's there." He responded, still upbeat.

          She watched him leave and silently seethed. "Mr. Perfect's at it again…one day I'll show him how much better I am then him…one day. He loves wrestling so much, huh…?"

          She smirked haughtily, realizing that the thought of becoming a wrestler suddenly sounded so perfect for her. If she couldn't get into the Olympics, well, she could always go for wrestling in a different style…something more…her.

          "Sam?" she turned around to see her boss staring at her. "Sam, are you all right? Citizen Sam?"

          "…Citizen…?"

~~

          "Sam, wake up." Sam's eyes flew open to find herself staring at a face with a green mask on it. She instinctively winded up and socked the person in the face. The man teetered backwards, holding his cheek. Still groggy, she jumped up and looked ready to do it again.

          "Who are you?!" she demanded.

          "Ow." He rubbed his cheek. "That wasn't nice, Citizen Sam. That is your name, isn't it?"

          "What's with this 'citizen' crap?" she asked, staring at him. "And why do you have a cape on?"

          "Because I am...the Hurricane! WHOOSH!"

          "…Um…listen, I don't have any numbers for mental hospitals…sorry pal." She shook her head, letting down her guard.

          "I see my hurri-powers have awed you, Citizen Sam!"

          "…Hurri-powers?"

          "But have no fear, I am here to save you from the danger with my hurri-strength!"

          "…What danger?" she looked around and only saw a squirrel zipping around.

          "Only hurri-eyes like mine can see them! Hurry, to the hurri-mobile!"

          "Listen, Mister…Hurricane…I don't know if this is some weird way of getting me to have sex with you or something, but I'm really not in the mood for you or your 'hurri-cycle'."

          "No no no, Citizen Sam! You have me all wrong! I am here to return you to Citizen Rob! He called on me because of my extreme hurri-senses!"

          "So let me get this straight. Rob sent you to find me? He trusted you to do that?" she shook her head. "Boy do I feel special."

          "As you should, Citizen Sam!" he nodded enthusiastically. "Now then, let us be off! WHOOSH!"

          "…Whoosh…" she repeated, but still stood there, staring at him oddly.

          "Hurry, Citizen Sam! We must go before the hurri-danger gets us!"

          "Now wait just a SECOND, Hurri-whatever." She ripped her arm from his hand as he tried to drag her to the motorcycle. "If I do agree to go with you, I'm driving."

          "No can do, Citizen Sam! The hurri-cycle is a delicate machi…"

          "Look, you either hand over the keys or I take them and leave you here. Your choice." She smirked at him.

          "…You drive a hard bargain, Citizen Sam." He said, a bit nervously. He handed over the keys and she grabbed them, rolling her eyes.

          "Damn right I do." She replied dryly, walking to the motorcycle.

_          I don't want to see Rob again, even though I know I have to._ She got on the motorcycle, putting in the keys. _And I don't want to think about the past again either, but both are going to haunt me._ She smiled as the motor roared to life. _So instead of running away, it'll be easier to just go with it. I always end up getting in the right place in the end, after all._


	16. You’re A Mean One, Ms. Wesley

**Chapter 16 – You're A Mean One, Ms. Wesley**

          "Hey, what's wrong with you?" Sam looked at Hurricane, who, even though the motorcycle has stopped, was still gripping the sides of the little side part to his little compartment.

          "C-Citizen Sam, it's people like you that makes me wonder about the driving license system." He managed to blurt out. She chuckled loudly, clapping him on the back.

          "Thanks, Tornado!"

          "…That's Hurricane." He mumbled.

          "Whatever. Hey, thanks for the ride. I'll tell Rob your tremendous deeds of saving me from the scary squirrels in the park." She tossed him the keys. "Later!"

_          Well that was refreshing._ She stretched her arms. _Haven't driven a motorcycle in a while. Guess that idiot wasn't all that useless. _She stopped suddenly, realizing that she was actually nervous about going to Rob. _I acted like a crazed freak. I basically pushed myself on him. Why did it feel so good? Wait, that's nonsense. There was nothing to that kiss. I was just in one of those weak moments I despise. But maybe this isn't such a bad thing. I could use this to my advantage! If he thinks I trust him, well, he'll open up more to me. More opening up means more secrets. Sigh…who the hell am I kidding? For once I even sound stupid to myself. Horrors upon horrors, I think I actually do like him. This is definitely not good for my rep._

"Something wrong, Sam?" She looked up to see Raven leaning against a wall near her. She groaned, really not surprised at his appearance. _He always comes when I'm miserable. Always._

"Do you like follow me or something?"

          "If I were following you, you would never see me." He grinned wickedly at her. "Feeling blue?"

          It took her a minute to get that. "Ha ha, funny."

          "It's a nice color. Fits your mood, right?" he looked at her with a tilted head.

          "You won the prize." She replied dryly. "As always."

          "Not surprising. You put my bad mood to shame." She couldn't help but laugh bitterly at that statement.

          "Thanks. Definitely needed that." She responded sarcastically.

          "So what's wrong now?"

          "You're a complete stranger, what makes you think I'm going to tell you my problems?"

          "Because you know I'm the only one you can talk about it too." He grinned at her again. She sighed at this.

          "You're strange, you know that, right?"

          "I've had people inform me of that." He nodded softly. "Strangeness is a word used too often though. I think the normal people are the strange ones if you ask me."

          "As interested as I am about your philosophy on strange people, I really need to get going."

          "To Rob, right?"

          "And how would you know that?" she asked with a raised brow.

          "Oh, that one's easy. He was asking everyone if they had seen you." He replied calmly. "He even sent…"

          "That weird superhero guy? Yeah, I met him." She mumbled.

          "I figured that too. He looked like he HAD gone through a hurricane." Raven shook his head. "Some people just need to make themselves feel better by acting like something they're not."

          "I suppose that's true." She agreed.

          "Anyway, I don't exactly know what you did to your little friend over there, but he was looking a bit worried."

          "…So?" she shook her head. "He really needs to stop being so protective of me."

          "You know, I found it hard to believe, but now I see it." Raven chuckled lightly.

          "See what, bird boy?" she asked, smirking.

          "You actually –like- Rob. What an odd couple." He started to laugh as she looked like she was about to kill him.

          "Right, and your crush on Molly is normal!"

          He instantly stopped laughing and she smirked at him. "I…well…I don't…"

          "What I thought." She laughed this time. He glared at her.

          "But off that topic…" he started, quick to stop the conversation.

          "Yep." She had a small evil grin on her face. _So THAT'S his weak point. Hmm…how fun. Might use that again._

"You better go talk to him." Raven murmured. "It's not as good of a story when Romeo is missing his Juliet, after all."

          "Yeah, but remember, they both die in the end." She replied, shaking her head.

          "Well, looks like you should try to rewrite it, huh?" he grinned.

          "You are –so- weird." She rolled her eyes, turning around to walk away.

          "Wait, Sam, one thing." She turned her head to look at him. "My opinion…when someone cares about you that much…not too smart to throw it away. It's hard to find, after all. Especially with the way you act." His last sentence was said as a joke, but she still knew it was absolutely true.

          "…Whatever." She responded coolly, not letting him have the chance of knowing of his correctness.

          That wasn't her style.

          She almost lost her cool though when she reached his door. She stood, staring at it, trying to collect her thoughts. _This has definitely been one of my more stupid ideas. How could I let this happen? Talk about a sharp drop in evilness points. Rob is definitely not the person that strikes fear into the heart of man, that's for sure, which is why I shouldn't like him._

          Suddenly the door opened and she found herself staring at Rob, who looked like he hadn't slept a wink even though it had to be at least three in the morning.

_          I'm supposed to be screwing this guy over, and I've never felt as bad as I do now doing it…_

          "Sam, you're all right…" Rob's tired look instantly brightened and, though he probably knew there was a chance she would lash out, he pulled her into a hug.

_          …But then again, no one's ever cared about me either._

          She let herself drop the defenses once more, allowing her arms to wrap around his midsection, burying her head into his chest. He tensed up a little, and she fully knew he was surprised at her sudden use of affection. What am I going to do? This feels too good…

          He untensed a few seconds later, and just held her like they hadn't seen each other in years. _…How am I going to tell him that I've been using him to get secrets all along? If the Alliance heads found out…they'd fire him too._

          "I thought I told you no sneaking out." He said as he finally let go of her, allowing her to step in.

          "I didn't sneak out." She pointed out wearily. "I ran out. Difference."

          "Listen, about today, I really didn't mean…well, I'm sorry I got you upset like that. It really wasn't my business." He frowned.

          "It's all right." She shook her head. "It's fine, really. I've been holding that way too long and I let it out on you."

          "Are you all right now?" he asked. She looked at him and noticed the obvious worry on his features.

          "I've been better, but yeah, I'm doing all right." She looked down. "Listen, about what happened…I…"

          "Think nothing of it. I know it was one of those caught up in the moment sort of things. Kinda like when you were drunk. You were a funny drunk, you know." He was obviously trying to lift the mood. Still, she couldn't help but notice a small glint of sadness in his eyes, one that made her frown.

_          I am a bitch…all these years of using people has finally caught up with me…I'm stuck in between a rock and a hard place here…why'd he have to go and start liking me, anyway?_ She looked at him quietly, still thinking of what action she wanted to take now. _Rewrite the story, huh bird boy?_ She bit her lip. "While some of it might have been that way, I don't think it was the entire reason, Rob."

          He kept his stare on her, looking confused.

          "Not following you, Sam…" he trailed off.

          "Listen, I'm –really- not good at this sort of stuff." She continued, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. _Goodbye reputation._ "And I honestly don't know where it all came from…but…"

          She pulled him into a kiss. She definitely felt him almost jump back in shock, but she kept him close, letting herself enjoy it for more then she ever would have dared before.

          It left him wide-eyed. He said nothing, looking like her had one of those heart attacks she had heard about.

          "Just one question, before I really think I've gone insane." She continued. "Honestly, Rob, how can you possibly have any ounce of caring for me after all I've been to you is a psychotic bitch?"

          "Because I knew you weren't that." He said matter-of-factly with a dazed smile. "You're one of the good ones, Sam. No matter how hard you try not to be."

          The words hit her, because she knew deep down inside her that she was never one of the goods ones, never in her life. That realization was more then enough pain for her to handle, though she knew it would grow worse when she finally got enough courage to tell him her misgivings.

          Inside she knew that he would not take it well at all, no matter how he found out, and this thoroughly worried her.

          "I love you, Sam."

          She looked at him, a little surprised. "You do?"

          He nodded. It was enough of a distraction for her to decide to pretend for at least then that she wasn't lying to him.


	17. So Sam DOES Have A Conscience!

**Chapter 17 – So Sam DOES Have A Conscience!**

**A/N:** Heh heh…just so SOMEONE –glares at Sarah- attempts to turn this on me...nothing Sam says  about Raven in the chapter has any relevance to how I feel about him…I dislike Raven, you know…I really do…why are you looking at me weird!? You've talked to her, haven't you?! –paranoid-

          Sam woke up with a start.

          _Where am I?_ She yawned quite loudly and attempted to stretch.

          Something was on her. It took her a moment, but she realized that she in fact was not lying down, but was propped against something warm and soft. She turned her head to glance at her personally pillow and found it was Rob, who she had suspected it was. She felt herself blush inwardly as she instantly remembered how she had allowed herself to fall asleep against him on the beat up old couch in their shared room.

          She was beyond admitting the feelings she had for him. No one had ever been able to get to her like he did. He almost had childlike innocence mixed with some strange wisdom she couldn't quite explain but she knew it was indeed there. Still selfish was the word for what she was doing, because she knew he didn't know the whole story. He didn't know she was using him to get secrets from the Alliance, which also threatened to destroy his image. He himself could get in trouble for her double agent job. Especially now, suspicion was spreading like wildfire through the Alliance about people thinking of jumping ship. Harboring a double agent intent on stealing all the secrets was enough to get the mills rolling.

_          I wish it wasn't like this. I wish everything was normal…I was normal. All my past grievances are coming back to haunt me through Rob. The irony of it all…finally found the one person who can take me and it turns out I'm using him like the rest. I really need to get a new day job, I think my entire life is long enough to be a bitch…or at least a bitch when it comes to friends and family anyway…can't ever get tired of being a bitch to OTHER people…_

          She smirked to herself, finding it all humorous. _Look at me, big bad Sam being comforted by an idiot like this…I should be deeply ashamed…but that'll be too much work. It'd be easier if I let it go._

She felt the need to distance herself from him. She slowly reached up with her free hand and lightly grasped the arm that was currently draped on her, and attempted to pull it off.

          She wasn't good at doing anything gently it seemed, as Rob slowly stirred awake just as she was about to get up. She happened to look at him as he did and found herself staring into his eyes. Instantly she felt a blush, and instantly she mentally yelled at herself for being such a damn romantic. _This stuff never used to get into my head. Sometimes I really hate Rob for this…making me such a damn pushover…_

"Good morning." He greeted. She smiled weakly.

          "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She responded, trying to sound calm.

          "It's cool." He responded, looking like he was still half asleep. "I'm just glad you're still here."

          She fell back against him, knowing she was caught for at least a bit now. "Why wouldn't I be?"

          "Because I sort of thought that you might change your mind or something."

          She looked at him and noticed a sad glint in his eyes that made her feel even worse. _Rob, why did you have to start liking me of all people? You deserve something so much better. _"Why would I do that?"

          "I don't know…maybe because you were just trying to feel better or something?" He offered.

          "Well that's plausible."

          "You just wanted to use me as a cheap fuck?" he continued.

          "Another idea."

          "Might be someone better then me…"

          "See, that one is highly doubtful, because damn…I have so many male suitors! It's you…and…oh, you…" she smirked.

          "They don't know what they're missing." He replied mildly, yawning.

          "Hey, just because I've admitted something between us doesn't give you the right to turn all mushy lovey dovey on me, here." She corrected. He rolled his eyes good humorly.

          "You're just sucking all the fun out of this." He pouted lightly.

          "Well it's not my fault you like me. If you wanted that, you should have went for Lita or something…"

          "Right, one of the WWF girls. That'll go well." He responded. She bit her lip at the comment. _I'm a WWF girl, even if he doesn't know that. I think I better tell him…now…before he gets any more attached me._

"Rob, ahh…listen. I have something to tell you before you…we…get any more…serious." She started, feeling nervous. She allowed herself to sit up, and found he was looking at her with big curious eyes. "Listen, I…"

          A knock at the door sounded and she silently cursed. There went her hope to tell.

          "One minute, kay?" he asked her, and she glumly nodded. He got up and opened the door. She sighed and followed him.

          Rob opened the door and over his shoulder she saw the not so menacing figure of a man she had heard people call Lance Storm. She didn't know why he was knocking on their door so early, but she knew that he was currently making her unable to talk to Rob, which made him an instant annoyance.

          "We've got trouble." He said, his voice so monotonous and uncaring. It frankly made his news seem not so troublesome…more some sort of news that would put her to sleep.

          "What's up, Lance?" Rob inquired. _So his name is Lance…what a stupid name._

"Meeting's been called. Something about a spy, I think." Lance shrugged. "The usual nonsense."

          Sam felt her pulse quicken. _Did they find me out? I wasn't very careful yesterday when I was upset…not good, not good at all. _Rob obviously didn't notice this. "All right then, we'll be down in a second."

          Lance nodded and left. Rob closed the door and glanced at Sam, who was fighting her need to be jittery.

          "What's this all about?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

          "Ahh, the top guys are always looking for trouble that isn't there. Spies, whatever…I know I would see 'em quickly if they were around."

          At this, Sam squirmed, a bit uncomfortable.

          "What was it you wanted to say to me?" he asked, looking curious.

          "Not important, forget it." She managed a weak smile.

          "Oh. All right then."

          Her heart thudded with every step she took. They both got dressed after finding out about the meeting and Rob made sure they were quick about it. The one person she knew would know anything about it was obviously Raven, who knew about her double agent job. She silently hoped he had decided to make an appearance at the meeting, because of all the times she needed him, it was then.

          He did come.

          It took her a few minutes, but she managed to sneak away from Rob while he was talking to that Hurricane guy. As she made her way to him, he acknowledged her with his usual indignant smirk plastered on his face, the one it always held.

          "Guess you heard, huh?" he asked in a whisper barely heard over the crowd. They were in a corner and away from most, so in truth on she heard him.

          "Did they find me out?" she questioned tensely. Raven only shrugged.

          "No clue. I haven't heard anything about it though. Usually I'm on top of all the gossip around, that's all these cretins talk about." He motioned to the crowd that was continuing to grow. "I heard some stuff, but none of it was about you…well, besides a few guys who think you're scary."

          "Well, that's good." She shook her head lightly. "I guess."

          "Not out of the water yet, though, and if you're found out, so am I."

          She had thought about Rob, but she hadn't about Raven when it came to his help with her job. Raven's case was even different compared to Rob, because he was helping her with full knowledge of her mission that no one else knew about…or at least she hoped so. He barely knew her, and he was somehow putting it all on the line for her. She never pretended to understand why, but now she felt the need to know.

          "Why are you doing this? Why aren't you just bringing me in?" she asked. He regarded her in the softest manner she had ever seen him with.

          "Honestly? Because you're the only one that doesn't treat me like I'm some freak." He shrugged again. "I mean, I used to try to fit in, but by the end of the first conversation I just had one big headache from the junk. So I sort of stopped talking, and after a few years of that, people get to talking." He looked at her. "You're the first person who I think I've ever found worth talking to, I guess." He gave one of his more mischievous grins. "And anyway, it's good to see someone stirring up trouble…we're lacking it terribly. Boring as hell."

          She couldn't help but smile as well, even though she was still terribly nervous about it all. "You're a good guy, Raven."

          Raven looked a bit surprised at this, and she could have sworn she saw a blush on his face. He gave her one of his rare genuine smiles that she herself definitely never saw.

          "There you are." She turned to see Rob walking over. He glanced at Raven with a curious look. "Making friends?"

          "Well you told me to socialize." She replied smugly.

          "That I did." He nodded. "But dare I say you're actually listening to me? The world's going to end, isn't it?"

          "I don't remember you being such a smart ass." She responded dully. Before he could answer, Austin busted in, looking like his usual annoyed self. She instantly froze, and Rob turned around to look at him as well. From the corner of her eye she saw Raven shoot her a look and it almost comforted her. _Damn friend thing…I really am going soft._

Austin looked about to speak, but Shane, who had come in behind, stopped him by starting himself. "All right, listen up everyone. There's been rumors going around by a certain person spying. After careful inspection, we have found the person!"

          Sam visibly paled.

          "Damn right we did! WHAT!" Austin glared around the room. "And the person who did it was…" Austin suddenly pointed in her direction, and she felt her heart drop. "Not Sam, surprisingly!"

          She would have cried in relief if she weren't trying to remain calm. "Good job, you silly little bitch. What!"

          She was so happy she wasn't caught, but her happiness faded when she found out the person who was being accused.

          "Raven! You've been up to no good, haven't you?!" Austin glared at him and he took a step back. _He's going to take the rap for me. Oh no, that ain't happening._

          "Hey Austin!" She stepped forward. "What proof do you have?"

          Austin looked at her, surprised. She felt all eyes on her as she let out a breath. "What? Are you questioning me, Sam? That's your name, isn't it?"

          "Don't you forget it." She gritted her teeth. "What proof do you have?"

          Austin smirked. "Look at the silly bastard! What? I said look at him…he's as shady as they come!"

          "That's all this based on? You're trying to create a witch hunt." She accused. "Quit while you're ahead."

          "Oh, that sounded like a threat!" Austin started to walk towards her, and instantly the crowd parted to let him through. She noticed the look of disapproval on Shane's face. He got right up in her face, and seemed surprised she didn't shrink back. "What are you trying to do, Sam? What? You trying to take over my position?"

          "No, I don't want to be the company's little monkey, thanks." She responded coolly, continuing to glare.

          He snapped. He tried to punch her but she caught his hand. It made her take a step backward from the velocity of the swing, but she caught it, and it hurt. He stared at her with rage in his eyes.

          "Well aren't you a feisty one." He tried to make a joke out of it all. He attempted to touch her, but she slapped his hand away.

          "Touch me and I break your wrist."

          He looked a bit surprised, but withdrew his hand. _This guy's asking for it. _"Fine. If you're so ready to fight, why don't you put up that hardcore title...what? I said, why don't you put the hardcore title up. Against me."

          "Thought you would never offer, leader." She said spitefully. He smirked at her and turned away.

          "This meeting is over." He said, sounding completely angry. And they all followed him out, leaving Rob, Raven, and Sam in the room. When they were all gone, both men turned to stare at her wide-eyed.

          "I don't think I ever saw anyone do that before." Rob said, dumbfounded. "I'll…meet up with you at the room, all right?"

          She nodded softly and watched him walk off, looking as pale as she was. _Must have thought Austin was going to really hurt me. Poor guy._

          "You just put your own ass on the line for me." She snapped out of her thoughts and glanced at Raven, a smug grin on her face.

          "You know, I'm getting the hang of this friend business. Apparently they watch out for each other." She winked at him. "See you around, Raven."

          She left him in the room, and she felt his eyes on her as she exited. _Hey, the good deed even got me some fun…I can kick Austin's ass finally!_

          She couldn't help but let out a full coy smile at the thought of hitting Austin over the head repeatively.


	18. The Match Against Austin

**Chapter 18 – The Match Against Austin**

          Sam felt Rob's eyes on her. She knew he was worried about her, even though she told him over and over again that she would be fine. It was obvious he didn't believe her, with due cause. Austin struck fear into people three times her size.

          But not her.

          "Stop looking at me." She stated, not turning around to return his gaze. "Austin's been asking for an ass kicking, and I'm going to give him one."

          "As much as I love how you're so ready to fight and kick ass, may I remind you that Austin likes to hurt people…and he's under one of those dangerous shouldn't-be-out-in-public categories. And you made him mad, and disrespected him, and that makes him even worse. I don't want you to get hurt, Sam." She heard him sigh.

          Finally, she turned to face him. She noticed the absolutely worried look he had on his features. _I appreciate the concern, but there's things I have to do._ She sighed lightly. "You really need to stop worrying about me, Rob. I'm a big girl. I've fought people ten times bigger, and even dumber. I want you to trust me. Please?"

          He looked at her with uncertainty, but finally nodded quietly. "I trust you."

          "Good. Remember, I'm dangerous too when I'm mad. And I'm mad, really mad." She shook her head.

          "Yeah, I've noticed. Pretty noble standing up for Raven. I'm guessing you've talked to him a lot more then just at the meeting, right?" He asked.

          "We sort of bumped into each other a lot." She explained. He nodded.

          "That's how it is with him, usually. And all worries aside, I hope you teach Austin a lesson about picking on smaller people." He grinned. "We're always a force to reckoned with."

          "Damn right." She nodded in agreement. She saw him give her a weak reassuring smile. She moved toward him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He looked at her, a bit surprised at the open affection. "Listen, I want you to promise me you'll remember this day, right here, all right? I love you."

          That was when he looked visably taken aback.

          "This isn't a way for me not to worry, is it?" he asked, smiling slightly.

          "No. I mean it. No matter what happens, or what's found out…my feelings are real. You'll remember that?" she asked him. He looked a bit confused.

          "Sure thing, Sam. You got it." He nodded. "I'll remember."

          "Good." She smiled again. "I have to go." She started to walk toward the door, but was suddenly stopped by Rob's hand. She was spun around and in a second she felt his lips against hers. She instantly relaxed in the embrace, and almost hated for it to end.

          "Be careful." He said, quietly. "Please."

          "Can't get rid of me that easily." She winked at him. He gave a small half smile.

          "I'm starting to get that." He nodded lightly.

          "'Bout time."

          She turned and left, feeling her heart sink. _I don't want to lose him. Not ever._

"You look pretty calm considering your match tonight." She turned her head to see Chris Jericho in the shadows of the arena.

          "It's just Austin." She shrugged, looking around. "What are you doing here?"

          "Just coming to wish you luck, Ms. Hardcore Champ. I've heard rumors. Like…Ms. I-Hate-The-World Sam has a boyfriend and is also sticking up for someone with this match."

          "Where'd you hear that?" she asked, gruffly.

          "Rumors. Stephanie McMahon style. Overheard her talking about it. 'Can't believe that Sam is sticking up for Raven. Well, he and Rob can have her. They're all freaks'." Chris smirked. "Never thought I'd see the day."

          "Me either." She muttered. "Chris, I'm in deep shit."

          He looked solemn for once. "I sort of figured. You know I'm always here to talk to if you need me."

          She looked at him, surprised at the offer. "I really need to learn how the hell I somehow managed to get friends being the bitch I was." She shook her head.

          "Well, at least I have an excuse. I get along with everyone. Except certain whores who will remain nameless." He grinned widely.

          "It's nice to see you don't change."

          "Darn right I don't change." He declared.

          "I've been looking for you." Both Chris and Sam jumped. Instantly Chris acted like he was fighting with her.

          "Stupid whore—" he started. She turned and saw it was Raven.

          "Hello Raven."

          "Why is he calling you a whore?" he asked calmly, walking over.

          "He's being an idiot." She turned to Chris, who looked confused. "He knows about this, you know."

          "He does?" Chris asked, surprised. "How did you find out?"

          "Rumors." He shrugged.

          "Oh." Chris nodded. "Then consider that whore comment erased, all right?"

          "Got it." Sam nodded. 

          "I just wanted to wish you good luck, Sam. And to tell you dutifully that you don't have to do this, even though I know you will anyway." Raven shrugged. "So it's really pointless."

          "Yeah, it is." Sam couldn't help but chuckle.

          "Figured." He glanced at Chris. "I'm sorry I disturbed you two. I'll go now."

          "Whoa whoa, wait Raven." Chris shook his head. Raven looked at him, almost like he was waiting to be insulted. "You've been helping my friend here, at least let me thank you."

          "Thank me?" he asked, a bit surprised.

          "Yeah. You're doing a good job since I obviously can't right now. Thanks a lot." He gave one of his wide Cheshire cat grins.

          Raven said nothing but nodded, regaining his cool composure. "Sure you don't want any help, Sam?"

          "Nope. This is my battle. You just sort of gotten it to me faster." She grinned. "Thanks for your overwhelming concern, though."

          "I figured you got enough of that from Rob." Raven rolled his eyes.

          "More like death glares. I seem to give a lot of people headaches." She couldn't help but chuckle.

          "I would suppose so. Not too many girls go around with the Hardcore championship, you know."

          "Yeah." She nodded. "Well, off I go."

          "Have fun, Sam." Raven called after her as she began to leave. She just waved a hand to show she heard him, pulled the hardcore belt up again, and walked toward the place where she was going to appear once again to kick some major ass.

          It was finally time.

          She went out first, feeling like gracing the crowd with a speech. 'Break Stuff' was blasting as she stalked down the ring, a smirk taking over her facial features. She looked almost like a veteran of the ring with her cool, fluid movements, poise perfectly confident, eyes glaring ahead, almost like Austin was all ready there. She barely noticed the boos she was getting. They didn't matter.

          _They'll love me once they hear what I'm going to do to Austin. _She extended her hand toward Lillian, who quickly, nervously handed over the microphone, automatically understanding what she wanted. She grabbed it and watched Lillian scamper out like a scalded dog.

          "Bet you all are wondering about my match tonight…or did you even know I had one?" she smirked. "Well, lemme tell you, there's been one person in these last view weeks that's been pissing me off." She paused to glance around. Most people seemed interested now in what she wanted to say. "That man happens to go by the name of Austin. Apparently, Austin doesn't like me either. So this is why I'm out here tonight…hey Austin, let's have that hardcore match you wanted!"

          Instantly the crowd understood the type of match they were in for, and there was both shocked silence and applause. After all, it was hard to believe a girl was fighting Austin voluntarily. Austin's music hit almost instantly, and she turned around to see him walking down, his usual angry expression on his face. _Well, here goes nothing._

She only nimbly ducked when she felt the presence of someone behind her. She turned and saw herself staring at Stephanie McMahon. _So, this is some sort of set-up to get me, I guess. _Stephanie quickly ran off the minute she knew she was caught, which made her life easier. She turned to see Austin running at her.

          She pulled out the weapon she had put in her pants, which was hidden from his view. When they connected, Austin let out a gasp of surprise and held the spot it hit. As he was down she kicked him solidly in the head, making him stagger back. He shook it off quickly, too quickly, which was a problem for her. He smacked into her, making her fly backwards, into the turnbuckle. She groaned, as she hit her head quite hard on the barely covered metal pole.

          Austin took the time to pick up the weapon she brought in, which was a nightstick, and looked ready to hit her squarely in the jaw or some other facial feature that would hurt pretty badly. Even in her daze she managed to just barely get out of the way. She fell to the ground, shaking the cobwebs out of her head. Turning on her back, she found Austin looming over her. She kicked him hard in the groin out of sheer panic.

          Austin instantly dropped the nightstick and held his effected area. She stood up, taking the nightstick as she went. She smashed it into his shoulder once, and he stumbled backwards. She tried again but Austin caught it and used her momentum against her. She fell backwards, almost doing a flip as she went. Austin hit her with the nightstick this time, and she winced at the pain. Knowing Austin and his likeliness to attack multiple times, she got out of the ring and managed to stay on her feet, which wasn't easy considering she felt blood coming down her face all ready. Austin had hit her hard!

          She noticed Austin coming for her, and then that a fire extinguisher was conveniently under the ring near her. She saw its hose sticking out of the wrestling apron. She pulled it out and did not face Austin until he was almost upon her. She shot then, and in the midst of white foam, Austin was blinded long enough for her to gain her bearings. She picked up a chair that was placed on the ground and swung it in the direction of Austin. It caught him in the side of the head, and hit with a heavy thud. Austin really looked dazed now, and she again hit him with the chair, only in the ribs this time.

          Austin kicked the feet out from under her to stop her from hitting again. He stood up and grabbed her. She felt herself being lifted up and even though she tried to get out of it it was in vain. He would not let go. She was carried to around the announcer's table, where she finally knew he meant to put her through something. She smacked the palm of her hand into the back of his head with effort, and he loosened the grip enough to let her go. He wasn't stunned though, and the kick to the middle of her stomach proved that. She bent over, feeling heaving pain in her ribs, like someone had broken it.

          She was beginning to wonder how wise this match was, but her stubborn side took over. Austin attempted to grab her again, but she sidestepped him. Doing so got her past his defenses and she managed to give him a hard shot in the stomach with the ball of her foot. Of all things, her kick was always the strongest. Austin was visibly surprised at the attack, which allowed her to get another hit in. Austin rolled into the ring to escape the punishment, and she followed, only this time with a kendo stick she had found under the ring when she looked. She wielded it like a sword. She cracked it on his neck, making it splinter and break apart.

          It was that exact moment she turned around and found a trash can connecting so harshly into her head that she felt as if she was truly seeing stars. Pain shot through her like never before, and she fell backwards, the world blacking around her. The last thing she saw was the face of a smirking black man over her, and the realization that she had lost against Austin.


	19. The Trouble With Austin

**Chapter 19 – The Trouble With Austin**

          "Sam…"

          She groaned, refusing to open her eyes. Instead, she turned her head away from the voice and the light that she felt shining down on her. Her head pounded in her skull, making her wish she could just fall back asleep again.

          "Sam, you all right?"

          _No, I'm not all right. _She kept her eyes closed, feeling sick to her stomach. _I lost my title…he beat –me- of all people! I'm such an idiot.._

"Wake up!"

          Sam sighed inwardly, hearing the worried tone in the voice. She knew she was only prolonging the inevitable. She let her eyes open, and found herself staring up at Rob. She knew it was him, and it almost touched her how utterly worried he was about her. Touched, however, was not in her personality trait part of her brain.

          "What are you staring at?" she asked, irritably.

          She sat up, a little too quickly it seemed, and rubbed her head. He continued to watch her, keeping his distance, almost cautiously. She knew he was worried because he cared, but it annoyed her for some reason.

          "Listen, I don't need your pity. I lost. Big deal." She continued after the long silence. "Guess I'm just not strong enough for Austin."

          When Rob held up her title, she stared at him in shock. "On the contrary, you didn't lose your title at all…" Rob interjected, giving a half smile.

          She didn't understand, even if she did. "Wait a second, how did THAT happen?" she asked, her shocked tone coming out. Rob held his smile.

          "I saw Booker running out…and me and Raven went and helped you. It was pretty funny, actually." Rob said, a bit proudly.

          "Are you NUTS?!" she asked, mouth agape. "Why did you…listen, I don't want you in this. This is my problem, not yours…I don't want Austin to go after you because of me."

          Rob moved toward her and gave her a tender kiss to the forehead. She did not pull back, but almost leaned into the moment. "He hates me anyway." He looked her over, especially at her head. "How are you feeling?"

          "Fine." She said, noting the change of subject. "…Where are we, by the way?"

          "Trainer's room." Rob answered simply. "He said you were all right, 'sides the cut on your head." She reached up to feel the bandage on her head.

          "Oh. Can we go back to the hotel?" She asked, sounding hopeful. She just wanted to be in bed, where she could have a nice long sleep.

          Rob stared at her for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I'll tell the trainer." He offered. He did so, and the trainer checked her and gave her the okay.

          By the time, though, they got to the hotel, she was feeling good enough to walk normally. Rob had to watch that she didn't fall for a while, as she was still unsteady on her feet, and that did help. She felt the bandage on her head again and sighed loudly. _Stupid fucking idiot, giving me this thing…_

Almost instantly, a voice rang out that made her look up. "Well look who it is…"

          She cringed at the sight and the voice. In front of them, in front of the hallway they needed to go down, was Austin, smirking. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Rob all ready looking about ready to strike.

          "What do you want, Austin?" he asked in a low voice.

          "Why are you getting all mad, Rob? What? I just wanted to make sure little Sam was all right." He replied with fake innocence.

          "It takes more then a few cheap shots to stop me." She glared steadily at him. "And one day, when you have the balls to fight me, a girl, on your own, I'll make sure you'll end up in worst condition then I am now." She looked at Rob, who still looked ready to strike at any movement. "Until then, don't waste my time."

          She walked toward him suddenly, pushing past him into the hallway behind.

          "What! Don't walk away from me, you little bitch."

          When she didn't turn, she heard him stomp after her, but she chose to ignore it. At the exact moment he attempted a blow to the back of her head, she turned with inhuman speed and caught his hands with hers. He stared at his hand, then her. He only saw the smirk on her face before pain shot up through him.

          She had twisted his wrist, hearing a satisfying pop under her grip. She revealed in the cry of pain he uttered, and he backed off. Rob followed as well, giving Austin a look as he cradled his hand. Austin said nothing more, but she felt his eyes bore into the back of her head. With an annoyed huff, she found the room on her own and waited for Rob to catch up with her.

          "You're crazy." Rob said as he reached her. His voice showed he was amused by it, and she watched him open the door for her.

          She just wanted to curl up and go to sleep…for around eight or nine hours. Maybe a day or two. She collapsed on the bed, sighing loudly, ignoring the fact that her head was spinning again.

          "Did you faint again?" Rob's head popped into view, looking down a her. She stared up at him with a smirk.

          "Are my eyes open?" she asked, turning over on her side. His head popped into her view again.

          "Yep. That could mean you're dead." He pointed out helpfully.

          "If I tell you to go away, will you?" she asked in a groan.

          "Nope." He replied. She sighed and sat up, rubbing her face, shying away from her cut in fear of making it open up again. He sat next to her and sighed too.

          It took her a while, but she finally decided to give him just a little satisfaction about his heroic save from Austin. "Listen, Rob, thanks for helping me back there. I guess that was pretty nice of you."

          She saw him glance over to her, a wide grin splaying on his features. "Wow, this is one for the books. You actually admitting that I helped you?"

          "Yeah, well, I'm only doing it in hopes of you letting me go to sleep any time soon." She said with a smirk.

          "Ah. I see." He said, then wiggled his brow playfully. "It couldn't be because you can't help but be amazed by my amazing heroic skills, would it?"

          "If I say yes, will you let me go to sleep?"

          "It's a good possibility." He confirmed.

          "Then yes." She said, overdramatically. "You are my knight in dragon-clad tights." She stood up, and so did he. She continued to smirk at him. "What would I ever do without you?" She pretended to faint, and he caught her, just like she figured he would. She smiled up at him as he looked like he was trying not to laugh. "I faint in the mere presence of your greatness."

          "That could have possibly been the best bullshit I've ever heard. I should make you do this more often." He finally said, cheerfully.

          "Don't count on it." She rolled her eyes, but allowed him, grudgingly, to kiss her on the nose. "I'm going to bed now. Finally."

          "Hey, if you're grouchy about Austin kind of getting one up on you, don't be. The humiliation that he couldn't handle you on his own should be enough to really puncture a hole in his pride."

          "It's not over between us." She said quietly.

          "I wouldn't expect it to be." Rob said, shifting his weight on his feet. "I might not know you perfectly, but I do know that when you find a target you don't stop going after it until you rip it to shreds."

          "Hey, you can't say I'm not persistent." She replied innocently. "It's one of my endearing qualities."

          He chuckled at this. Even though she realized then that she was completely comfortable with Rob now, the nagging problem of her earlier lying still continued to bother her. _I need to tell him, I don't need it to blow up in my face._

She looked at him steadily._ But not now. Maybe tomorrow._

          Tomorrow came and went. In fact, a whole week did. Who didn't come around, though, was Austin. After the little bout, people in the Alliance were starting to look down on him and look up to her. This was good for her inside job, of course, because everyone was opening up to her. Their plans, their secrets…she was getting it all. Even though she knew it was dangerous for both her and Rob, she couldn't just stop helping her company.

          Even if she did love Rob, she did not want to be in the Alliance. She liked the WWF, and all the idiots under it. The Alliance was all right, but incredibly dimwitted when it came to going around taking over. It was painfully obvious that they were the ones who were going to lose the bid of dominance. She did not want to be around when that happened. A meeting was called that week later, and she of course was expected to be there.

          "Sam, glad you can make it." She took the soda that Chris Kanyon offered her. Kanyon was a strange man, Sam realized, but he was friendly enough. He had a strange way of looking up to Rob, who didn't mind the attention at all. Now, though, Kanyon was also tending to be impressed with her too.

          "Hey Kanyon." She said, taking a sip of the soda. "You hear any word about today's meeting?"

          "Don't think it'll be good news for you or Rob." He leaned in, lowering his voice. "Word is, Austin is back and is piping mad about how you and RVD disrespected him."

          "Let him be mad." She smirked. "It doesn't matter."

          "Well, if I were you, I'd be careful. Austin's still got some kinda power over most of the people here, even me…" he trailed off.

          "Let him try to take me on. Maybe he can hit me without his henchmen attacking me from behind." She gave a sideways glare at Booker T, who was sitting by himself.

          "You're one bold chick, Sam." Kanyon said, shaking his head. Just as he finished his sentence, the door swung open and in came Austin. Most people froze, but Sam found herself glaring at the bastard. Rob, too, seemed not so happy to see him.

          He proceeded to lecture them all about their pathetic losses, which were actually not very numerous. No one brought up how he would have lost to Sam, or how he hadn't come around for that entire week to help out. She continued to wish she could just jump him and beat him into a pulp. It was pretty hard, but she somehow managed to do so.

          The meeting soon ended, and everyone filed out, out to do what their schedules called for that day.

          "I'm not done with you, Sam." Austin said as she left with Rob. She stopped, as did Rob. "We have things to discuss." She turned to see Austin glaring at her. "Alone."

          "Fuck off, Austin." Rob said through gritted teeth.

          "Rob, wait outside." Sam said, glaring at Austin. Rob frowned.

          "But…"

          "Go." She commanded lightly. She heard him sigh, but then the door closed behind her.

          "Gotten pretty close to Rob, huh?" Austin smirked at her.

          "That's none of your business." She replied coolly. "What do you want?"

          "I know about you." Austin said, calmly. She felt her pulse quicken. "I know about how you're helping that son of a bitch Vince. I know you're not apart of the Alliance, and yet…" He glanced at the door. "I doubt fully Rob knows about it."

          She shifted on her feet. "You wouldn't fucking dare."

          "You crossed the wrong person, Sam. Now, I might let you off on one condition, to which if you do I will be glad to keep your double agent job a secret." Austin continued.

          "I'll just tell Rob myself." She said, smirking toward her enemy.

          "It won't work that way. See…if you don't do exactly what I say, Rob will find out AND lose his job…after all, holding a dangerous spy as he has done…"

          "You can't do that!" she quickly interjected.

          "I'm the damn WWF champion, I can do whatever the hell I want!"

          She twitched, trying not to literally strangle him to death. After a moment's pause, she finally sighed. "All right, what do I have to do?"

          Austin just smiled twistedly at her.


	20. Of Love, Friends, and Cheap Alcohol

**Chapter 20 – Of Love, Friends, and Cheap Alcohol**

          Sam felt like kicking something, breaking something, preferably one of Austin's body parts. He had indeed told her what she was to do to protect Rob from being totally fired. Of course, Austin had pulled no stops to completely embarrass her. She would have to basically lose all dignity she ever held if she wanted to keep Rob out of this problem.

          And she could do nothing but agree to the terms. Austin had shown that he had a tape, one of which had her sneaking off to talk to Kurt. She could not say it was a lie with proof like that. She quickly made a promise to herself that she would tell him exactly what he would have found out even after the humiliating experience that was pending in her future.

          "Do we have an understanding, Sam?" he got really close to her face, so close she could smell the beer on his breath. It made her cringe. "What?"

          "Yeah, we have an understanding." She said, spitefully.

          "Well good.  I'll see you tonight." He stood up straight, allowing her up. She shook her head, angry, and stalked out.

          _How could I let him bully me around?_ She sighed bitterly. _This is horrible._

          "Sam? Yo, earth to Sam…" she shook out of her thoughts to see Rob staring at her. "Welcome back."

          "Sorry." She muttered, rubbing her head. "Can we go now?"

          "Did Austin do something to you?" Rob asked, noticing her depressed, thoughtful expression.

          "No!" she replied, sharply. Rob blinked, a bit surprised.

          "All right…" he replied, cautiously.

          "Can we just leave, now?" she asked. Before he opened his mouth, she continued, "No wait. I need to talk to you."

          "Can this wait, sweetie?" he asked, sounding a bit rushed. "I have to catch up with  the guys for a bit. You don't mind, do you?"

          She let out a breath slowly. "No, I suppose not." She said. Rob smiled wildly at her and kissed her cheek, handing over the keys. She took them.

          "I'll be back later. C-ya!" Rob waved a hand, before jogging off in the opposite direction. She looked down at the keys, then at the direction he left. _Keys to a car. Money in my pocket. Reasons to drink. I think I'll go get plastered._

          With her new found resolve, she marched off to the car she and Rob sort of shared at that time, started it up, and easily went on her search for a nice place to get a drink. She found a place. It was shabby, run down, but it had the word 'Bar' on its title, so it would definitely serve her in her pursuit to get as wasted as possible without dying of alcoholism.

          She walked in, sliding quietly into the seat. A few minutes later, a beer was in her hand, half gone, and she looked as depressed as ever. "Damn so called way to wash your sorrows away." She muttered, annoyed.

          "Actually, liquor serves to make you even more depressed." Her head shot up at the voice, and she turned to face Raven, who slipped into the bar seat next to her. He ordered a beer and pretended not to notice her staring at her oddly. After getting his drink, he looked at her, a smirk on his face. "Though you feel sort of liberated at first, it really slows your brain down."

          "You know, I think you're following me." She commented idly, swirling her drink in its glass.

          "What? Can't a person just happen to end up in the same bar at the same time?" he asked, grinning good-humorly at her. She gave him a look. "All right, so maybe I did follow you. After seeing you stalk to that car of yours looking like you want to break something, I decided to make sure you weren't getting yourself into any friendly brawls with the nice public in this fair town."

          "Me? Brawl? Never." She replied dryly.

          "Right." He responded, rolling his eyes. "So, is there any particular reason you're in a bar at 2 in the afternoon?"

          "It's nothing." She muttered, shaking her head.

          "Wanna try at least tying to make that sound convincing?" Raven raised a brow.

          "You're not going to leave until I tell you, are you?" she groaned.

          "That's my general mission, yes." Raven confirmed. "What, is Austin picking on some helpless 6 foot wrestler again, Miss Champion of the Oppressed?"

          "N—Champion of the Oppressed?" she looked at him. "The hell?"

          "That's what people are calling you, you know." Raven gave a half-grin. "Guess you can't go into that pissy façade of yours anymore."

          "Lovely." She replied bitterly. "No, Austin has found a target, but it's not a six foot idiot, it's…me."

          "And it took you until now to figure this out?"

          "He knows." She said, sighing loudly.

          "Knows wh…oh…" Raven quieted a minute. "Well that's not good, is it?"

          "Brilliant observation." She responded spitefully. "Austin has a tape of me talking to Kurt. And he says if I don't do exactly what he told me to do, he would fire Rob along with me." She looked toward Raven with a dreary expression. "Rob had nothing to do with this. He just doesn't deserve to get in trouble because I'm a fucking bitch."

          "You know, a month ago you would never be this upset that you got someone else in hot water because of your actions." Raven pointed out, a grin spreading across his features.

          "So?" she asked, suddenly defensive.

          "I'm just saying…you've changed, a lot." He shrugged. "And whatever happens tonight, I think, will be proof of which way you will choose to live your life." He paused. "So, what are you supposed to do with Austin?"

          She sighed lightly. "Basically plead for his forgiveness in front of everyone, kiss his feet, that sort of bullshit. It would destroy any sort of image I have. I don't do pleading, especially to jackasses like him."

          Raven frowned at this. "Basically humiliate you, huh?"

          "Exactly." She nodded sorrowfully.

          "Well, in that case…you have a choice." He looked like he was cautiously weighing his words. "You either lose your pride and status, or lose Rob, who whole-heartedly trusts and I would say loves you as well."

          Sam looked down, her mind on those two choices. _This wouldn't be that hard of a choice if it was last year._ She rubbed her temples. _I hate life. I really do._

          "What would you do?" she blurted out. Raven looked surprised at the question. She remembered that not so many people took the poor guy seriously, never mind actually asking his opinion on pressing matters such as the one she was in.

          "Well, being that it's such a precarious position, it would be a pretty hard choice…especially when it's someone like you that thrives on being without weakness…but I think I would do whatever it takes to protect one of the few people who can like me even when I'm at my lowest." He shrugged. "Some things are more important then thinking only about yourself."

          She sighed at this, knowing he was making sense right then. "I suppose so." She said.

          "But this isn't my choice, it's yours. You gotta figure out what's more important to you."

          "But that's like…impossible!" she huffed, annoyed.

          "Hardly." Raven rolled his eyes. "But whatever you do chose, getting drunk on top of it isn't going to help much.  I don't think I have to remind you about the last time you got drunk."

          "What, don't you want me all over you?" she asked, her mood lightening slightly.

          "As inviting as the offer sounds, I don't think Rob would appreciate it." Raven smirked.

          "You're no fun." She grinned mischievously. "But I suppose you're right." She tilted her head. "I need to tell Rob before anything happens tonight anyway. Don't need to be blubbering like an idiot, after all."

          "Don't you do that anyway?" he asked, jokingly.

          "You would so be dead if I didn't have to save my energy to beg for Austin's forgiveness." She pointed out.

          "Hey, I gotta enjoy it while I can." He responded innocently, despite the look she shot him.

          "We go back to the hotel?"

          "I guess so." She sighed, paying some money for the drink she bought. Raven shook his head, taking the money back and paying with his own.

          "My treat." He said, giving her money back to her.

          "You don't…"

          "I'm giving you a free drink. Don't complain." He interjected. She chuckled, allowing herself to wrap her arms around his neck in a hug, giving him a kiss on the cheek. He backed away, a little surprised. "What was that for?"

          "I'm trying out a new wrestling technique, of course." She replied sarcastically. He gave her a strange look. "I'm kidding. That was just a compilation of thank yous all rolled into one. Pretty cool, huh?"

          "…Oh." He uttered, sounding a bit embarrassed.

          "Well, come on, Raven, it's time I go face my lovely destiny as the world's stupidest female."

          "That can never happen." He corrected. "That title stays with the ever lovely Stephanie McMahon."

          "And people say you don't look on the bright side of things." She responded dryly.

          "I like to fuck with their minds."

          "This is why we get along, my friend." She pointed out, clapping her hand to his shoulder. He nodded in agreement.

          They left soon afterwards, and all good moods were quickly vanished at the thought of facing Rob and also finally the truth of how she came to him. Truth on where she stood. Raven knew why her mood dampened, of course, when he saw her after the drive back to the hotel.

          "I'll walk you to your room, if you want." He offered. She knew he meant it to be a way of showing comfort, and knowing he would probably not take no for an answer, she readily agreed.

          They walked down the hallway, and she stopped in front of the door that she remembered to be her room. She took a breath, almost hoping Rob wasn't back yet. Just as she started to open the door, the door opened itself. Rob was there, his usual bright disposition showing.

          "Hey Sam." He greeted, then glanced at Raven. "Hello Raven."

          "Well, I'm going to go." He said, looking a bit uncomfortable. She glanced toward him. _He always gets nervous around talking to people other then me. And he says I'm anti-social._

          "Thanks, Raven." She said as he started to walk away. He waved his hand slightly to show he acknowledged her. She turned her attention on Rob, who was watching Raven suspiciously as he left. She rolled her eyes and poked him inside, following him in as well. She closed the door behind her and stretched.

          "Have fun?" Rob asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

          "Yeah. I met up with him a bit by accident, and we talked a while." She shrugged. "And you?"

          "The usual. I got to listen to all of them complain about not getting a lot of airtime. Bunch of babies." He rolled his eyes.

          "Bunch of babies also labeled your friends." She pointed out bluntly.

          "Something like that." He smiled, nodding his head slightly.

          She realized that the only thing about his outer appearance that she would just die if he lost was his smile. _It lights up his entire face. Oh god, I'm such a sap now._ She shook her head to get any sort of thought like that from her head. It would not help her do what she wanted to do. It took her a moment, though, to notice his smile was a little less wide then usual, and his eyes held a certain look that was foreign to her. She raised a brow at him, almost questioning him silently on what was wrong with him.

          "Something wrong, Rob?" she asked, suddenly feeling a little panicked. Had Austin told him all ready?

          "I know, Sam." He mumbled. She was taken aback, her heart picking up the pace. Oh my god, that bastard…

          "Listen Rob, I'm sorry…" she trailed off. "I didn't mean…"

          "How long have you been seeing Raven?" he interjected. Realization struck her, and she instantly turned a funny shade of pink as blush spread to her cheeks. "Well?"

          With all the panic-induced adrenaline pumping through her veins, she did the only thing she could to dispense them. She burst out laughing. He looked at her oddly, a bit surprised at her laughter at such a serious accusation. When she finally found her breath, she smiled widely and shook her head. "Rob, are you crazy? I'm not seeing Raven."

          "You're…not?" he questioned, unsure.

          "Of course not! Never mind the fact that I have you, Raven's head over heels in love with that Molly girl you told me about. Do you really think he would stop crushing over her for someone like me?" she asked, amazed at his accusation.

          "I would." He admitted quietly. She felt the blush deepen. _Does he know I heard him say that? _She moved toward him and planted a kiss on his lips, which he eagerly accepted with much gusto.

          "Rob, I'm not cheating on you. Raven's just one of the few people who understand me. I have all of you...and…you…and him to really talk to. After that, it's all the plentiful amount of enemies that take up my life. That explains why I'm always either by you or him, you know?" she explained. He nodded lightly. "I don't love anyone but…"

          She stopped herself. Cold. The words sort of slipped out, but she suddenly realized them to be all too painfully true. This was the person she had been waiting for for her entire life. There was no guy before Rob that she could consider anything more then lustful ambition.

          "Anybody but…?" he inquired, his eyes settling upon hers.

          She swallowed, feeling the redness of her cheeks continue to bless her with its presence. "Anybody but you. No one else can make me feel how I feel with you." She admitted, more to herself then to him. "I was about to give up on human interaction before you came along. Though, beating people up was a lot easier."

          "You know, only you could make that sound like the romantic line of the year." Rob laughed, brightening up at the revelation.

          "That's me." She nodded, still a little embarrassed at the opening of her feelings. "Which brings me to another point, I have…"

          "Why don't we go out to eat today? Or like…right now?" he asked, still sounding suddenly optimistic.

          She looked him over and knew she would not have the heart to break his good mood. He deserved to enjoy it. Sighing in defeat, she nodded.

          "All right Rob, let's go out to eat then."


	21. The Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 21 – The Truth Comes Out**

          It was beginning to look like she would never find somewhere where she could tell him what was going to happen that night. She found herself standing in the locker room, hours having past. Rob was just talking, and she didn't know the exact appropriate time to interrupt him. _I could just blurt it out, or maybe kiss him and THEN tell him…_

          "You seem a bit out there, Sam, what's up?" Rob suddenly asked. _Or he could ask me what is wrong, that'll work._

          "Actually, Rob, I…"

          She felt anger boil up inside her when a knock hit their door, just as she was going to tell him. Now visibly annoyed, she marched over to the door, opened it. There stood Hurricane, but not for long. With a snap, he crumpled at her feet, holding his cheek in shock.

          "I can't TAKE this anymore." She said, hopping over the stunned Hurricane before stomping off, leaving Rob staring after her and Hurricane all ready asking his trademark 'whatsupwitdat?!'

          She found a indentation between a wall and a large crate the WWF techies obviously owned. She sighed, allowing herself to sit in it, shaking her head sadly. _Who am I kidding? I don't want to tell him. He's never going to speak to me again. Ever. And the worst part of it, I don't blame him…_

          "Are you trying to be one with the boxes or am I missing something?" Her head jerked up, surprised that someone had seen her. She was half expecting Raven (because, after all, she couldn't hide from the master of the shadows…he always lurked), but instead a flash of blonde and a wide cheeky grin signaled it was Chris Jericho.

          "Christopher, no one has time for your witty repartee." She said glumly. Chris smiled, shaking his head.

          "Why so down, you've got that frown, mind if I try to…"

          "Turn it upside down?" she raised a brow, finishing his little rhyme.

          "Why would I wanna do that? I just wanted to know if I could try to find some food in this place." He explained, his tone light and joking.

          "If you're going to annoy me…"

          "All right, all right, whoa there girl. Anger management, will ya?" he put his hands up to show he surrendered before she kicked his ass for making her mood any worse then it was. Chris raised a brow, then sat next to her, cross-legged, as she was, which, at a better moment, was probably funny looking enough to make Sam laugh.

          But there was no time for laughing, and she remained sullen and quiet. "Is there a reason why you're here?"

          "Well, let's see. I find you on the ground hiding behind this big…box thing, and you look like you're either going to break something or someone in half or cry, and for some reason, it all strikes me as odd." He paused. "So what's up?"

          "The mission is ending tonight." She explained, and said nothing more.

          "Rob found out?"

          "Not yet, but I'm telling him."

          "What! Why?" Chris looked at her, surprised. When she didn't answer, it seemed to puzzle Chris even more. _Yeah, this day just keeps getting better. _Out of the blue, it suddenly struck him, though the idea made him make a face, because it was probably a little outlandish in his head. "You…like him, don't you?" he asked, cautiously. She kept mute, bowing her head. "Sam, are you and Rob in love or something?"

          "I'm a different person now." She softly explained, shaking her head. "You wouldn't even know me any more, Chris, and Kurt…ha! Yeah, I'm in love with him." Chris couldn't help but look surprised. "I don't actually know when it happened, it was sort of gradual but…" She faltered, unsure of how to explain it. "He's changed me…actually, a lot of people have…and what is going down tonight is going to seal the change."

          "What do you mean tonight…?"

          "Sam! Hey Sam, where'd you go?" Sam looked up, panicked.

          "Chris! Get out of here before he finds me with you!" she said, standing up. He did too, and quickly ducked behind the box as she went out in the open. Rob turned the corner and sighed in relief as he saw her.

          "Sam! There you are!" he jogged up to her, and she felt her heart thudding in her chest. There was going to be no interruptions this time. He stared at her, confused at her actions. "Did I do something wrong or something?"

          "No, it isn't you, Rob. Never think that." She replied suddenly. He looked a bit surprised at the outburst. "It's me. It's honestly me. Rob, I've been trying to tell you something for a while now…"

          "Oh really? Well I'm all ears, sweetie." He offered, frowning at her obvious upset disposition.

          "Rob, there's things you need to know about me at my current state, and how I came to you. Me and Kurt didn't have a fight." She admitted, looking down. "Vince is a nice guy, even if he is old…actually, he was impressed with me and I think he didn't mind I had the title."

          "What are you talking about?" Rob asked, though she knew he was all ready understanding what she was saying to him.

          "Rob, that day you found me, Kurt and I had a pretty bad fight about me and my ways, especially after my lovely boozed kiss I had with you…I was so sick of him treating me like a little kid, so I thought…what would get him really mad? Then I thought of you…he hated it when I kissed you, and I thought it would be a great idea at the time to both give Kurtie a heart attack and help the WWF a little…so I told Vince I would spy for him, because I knew you had a crush on me."

          His face had visably paled, which made her squirm a bit.

          "And you did exactly what I thought you would." She said quietly, feeling ashamed of herself all over again. "But I swear Rob, I know what I did was a horrible, cruel thing to do…Rob, I'm not like that anymore, I swear. You've showed me something I've been trying to hide my eyes from, and I know I don't deserve forgiveness but I want you to know that whatever you say about this…I'll still love you."

          Rob didn't say anything for a long time, silence prolonging more then she liked. After a minute of no talking, she felt her jitters grow enough for her to talk again.

          "Please, say something."

          He looked at her with an expression that broke her heart. _He looks so hurt…not that I'm all that surprised. _"It's all been lies, then, huh?" he asked, his voice low. "I knew this whole thing was too good to be true."

          She looked steadily down at her feet. "I'm so sorry."

          "I bet you are." She looked up to see he was more angry then anything, though again she did not blame him. "You know, I thought you really were a good person, Sam, but it turns out I was just another one of your pawns. I'm out of here."

          And that was that. She watched him leave, willing herself not to drop to her knees and plead for his forgiveness. She knew even if she did it would not bring him back. That information had just torn them apart for what was probably eternity.

          She willed the tears welling up in her eyes away. She felt a hand on her shoulder and knew it was Chris. Without warning she flung herself into an impromptu embrace with her friend, who looked a bit surprised but hugged back, allowing her to cry into his shirt.

          "I'm sorry, Sam." He said as she let him go, wiping the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

          "I deserved that." She shook her head, speaking in a quiet voice.

          "What are you going to do now?" he asked, frowning.

          "Well, I have to go kiss up to Austin now." She said. Jericho looked at her, obviously not understanding.

          "Why?"

          "So Rob doesn't lose his job." She said simply, walking away, leaving Chris standing there, obviously confused.

~~

          She had been physically, mentally, and emotionally abused all in one night by one man.

          Austin started off addressing the crowd. With a flurry of 'whats', he started bad mouthing her like crazy. She stood, stone-faced, and she knew people were wondering what was up with her.

          "Not saying anything? What?"

          He smashed his palm into her cheek. She took a step backward, the stinging blow obviously felt. She did nothing to go after him though, and by then the whole crowd was confused.

          "I want a hardcore match!"

          "Fine." She responded lowly.

          She watched him get out of the ring, then enter back with a chair. She wasn't surprised at that blow, and fell to a knee. Austin smacked her with it again, then continued taunting her body, which was now heaving with effort.

          _I can't hit him…fucking bastard…_

          "Not so tough now, what!" his boot connected with her middle section and she crumpled over completely, wincing. "What!" Another kick.

          _I'm sorry…_

          Austin laughed maliciously, picking her up by the hair. She felt numb, and not only from the pain.

          _All I've ever done was cause trouble. Aunt and Uncle, Kurt…_

          Austin threw her into the ropes and clothes lined her. Again she was on the ground, and had no will to get up anymore.

          _I've hurt almost every person I came in contact with…and when finally the one person who knew I wasn't as bad as even I thought I was, I ended up breaking his heart…_

          She got the stunner put on her, and again it hurt, but it didn't hurt any worse then what she felt inside. Austin draped an arm over her. She heard the three hits to the mat so clearly, but for the first time in her life was too preoccupied to care she had lost her sign of power.

          _I don't deserve to have anyone care about me…_

          Austin left her lying, curled on the mat, wishing all the pain away. She felt something touch her and she flinched. She looked up to see Chris.

          _Why do you help me? Why do you care, Chris? I don't understand it…_

          "Come on, sweetie." He whispered, coaxing her to at least get to the edge of the canvas. She managed to crawl there, and he pulled her out under the ropes and got situated to carry her. She wanted to curl up and die in his arms.

          She blacked out soon after.

          When she woke, she found Chris hovering over her. She attempted to move.

          "Don't move, rest." He said softly, and she winced when something warm touched to her forehead. She knew whatever it was, Chris was doing it, thus it was couldn't be anything that bad or harmful. She sighed and closed her eyes again, quietly wishing the headache away.

          "Where am I?" she asked, opening her eyes to look up at him again.

          "I brought you to my hotel room. I didn't think you wanted to go to the hospital." He explained. "Feeling better?"

          "No." she replied bluntly.

          Chris frowned considerably. "Well, if it's all the same, Sam, what you did for Rob tonight was probably the most loyal thing I have ever seen anyone do for anyone." He was attempting to cheer her up. "He must have meant a lot to you."

          "He did." She said, her voice still a hushed whisper. "Chris, why do you keep helping me?"

          "What do you mean?" he asked, looking at her.

          "All I've been to you is a bitch…yet you always help me when I need it…why?"

          He smiled warmly at her. "That's what friends do, Sam. They forgive." He said, shrugging. "And anyway, I don't want you to beat me up for not helping you."

          Despite her horrible mood, she cracked a small smile at his joking tone. Sam felt herself almost doze off again, but vaguely heard the knock at Chris's door. She looked toward it.

          "How is she?" she heard a voice ask. Instantly the voice and the face clicked.

          "Kurt." She said, looking at her cousin.

          "Sam, oh my god, are you all right?"  he asked, pushing past Chris to walk towards her. She sat up and at that moment Kurt bended down and embraced her like he hadn't seen her in years and actually felt sorry about that. She was a bit surprised that her cousin was worried, but she found herself accepting the hug and hugged back herself. He let her go, and stared at her, puzzled. "Sam, what the heck were you doing out there? I mean, you almost killed Austin the last time you guys met. It was amazing!"

          "You saw that match?" she asked, a bit surprised.

          "Of course! I was so wrong about you Sam, you were doing as good as I am with him!" he admitted.

          She suddenly felt just a little bit better. "Do you mean that?"

          "Yeah!" he nodded, enthusiastically. "But what about tonight?"

          She sighed and turned away at this, obviously confusing her cousin.

          "She did it for Rob." She heard Chris explain to Kurt.

          "Why would she…oh." He paused. "You're going out with that psych…I mean, hey, that's good, I'm glad there's someone out there for you…"

          Both Chris and Sam rolled their eyes.

          "Just shut up, Kurt." Chris told him.

          "What! I was just saying…"

          "We broke up." Sam informed Kurt glumly, turning back to him. Kurt frowned.

          "Oh, I see…listen Sam, there's more fish in the…"

          "If you're about to give me cousinly advice, I am going to shoot myself. Got it?"

          "Sorry. I'm just…" he searched for the words. "I just don't like seeing you upset."

          Sam sighed at this. "I know, I know…" she paused. "Thank you, Kurt."

          "Listen, I said I'm sorr…wait a second, what did you just say?" he asked, staring at her in shock.

          "I said I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was a bitch to you, I'm sorry I never gave you a chance…you're really not that bad of a guy, and I'm glad I'm your cousin." She admitted.

          Kurt blinked, almost disbelieving he heard right. "Um…really?"

          "Yeah."

          "OH SAM!" He proceeded to basically choke her in the big hug he gave her, which she made a face and attempted to breathe. Even though it wasn't the best time, Chris burst out laughing, obviously wishing he had a camera.

          Sam did not know Chris, though, was silently planning on a way to get Rob to reconsider leaving her. He would not stand to have her heart-broken as she was without trying to make it better.


	22. Breakfast at the Diner

Chapter 22 – Breakfast at the Diner

          Sam woke up to hear Kurt yelling. Automatically curious, she got up and walked toward his voice.

          "I just want to talk to her." Another voice said.

          "There is no way I'm letting you near my cousin you…"

          "Raven!" she said, automatically cheering up a little. She push pasted an appalled Kurt and hugged him. Raven chuckled lightly and hugged back.

          "Wait a second, you talk to him too…?"

          "What are doing here, Raven?" she asked, ignoring her cousin.

          "What kind of riff raffs are you getting with?"

          "I heard about the break-up. I wanted to make sure you were all right, even with the Austin thing too." He explained.

          "I mean, heck, even that Jeff Hardy guy would be better…"

          "Kurt, don't you have to go hug a tree or something?" Sam asked, annoyed.

          "I only did that once!" he pouted, which got him stares from both his cousin and Raven. "…That was sarcastic, wasn't it?" Sam nodded. "Haha, I was kidding…um…I'll go now."

          He went back to the couch he slept on and pretended not to listen. Just in case, she closed the door behind them. They stood outside now, which probably wasn't the best thing to do with Raven as he could get caught, but he didn't seem to care.

          "So how are you?" he asked, frowning slightly.

          "Not so great." She said quietly. "I feel like someone ripped my heart out of my chest, actually."

          "I would expect so. Rob is a wreck. I saw him walking away. It looked like he was either going to kill someone or punch a hole in the wall. He just looked really upset." Raven sighed lightly. "He didn't see what you did for him."

          "I don't really care." She said. "I don't even think I want him to know. But it's over."

          "I figured as much." He nodded quietly. "Maybe he'll change his mind. I mean…he really did love you."

          "I doubt he'll give me another chance. I know I wouldn't."

          "I would." He stated, looking at her. "It's human nature to deceive, but it takes something extra to admit to mistakes, Sam. Whatever happens, you've still given me hope for this world that has people like your cousin in it."

          She chuckled lightly. "Kurt isn't that bad, just a little dopey."

          "You can say that again." He rolled his eyes. "I better go…"

          "Why don't you join us for breakfast? No one will see you."

          Raven looked a bit nervous. "Like…with Kurt?"

          "And Chris. And me. It'll be fun, come on, Raven, please?" she gave him a cute pleading look. "It'll make me feel better."

          Raven sighed, not looking particularly happy with the idea, but nodded. "I suppose so."

          "Kurt just doesn't know you, that's all. It'll be fine."

          She managed to coax him inside. Raven raised a brow when the first sight he had was Jericho, still half asleep, his blonde hair going in all different directions. He yawned loudly and stood, glancing sleepily at the two.

          "You have too many friends, Sam." Chris said tiredly. "He ain't sleeping with me tonight, that's for sure." With that, he lumbered past them and into the bathroom. Raven blinked.

          "I don't think he's used to having so many people in his bedroom." She giggled.

          "Saving himself for Stephanie I see." Raven replied bemusedly.

          "He's still here?" Kurt asked sourly.

          "Kurt, one more time, and I'm kicking you out." She warned. "Raven is my friend, the guy who made sure I didn't get caught all that while. Got it?"

          "Fine." He pouted. "You can hang out with anyone you want."

          She turned to Raven. "See?" she whispered in his ear. He smiled gratefully at her.

~~

          "Do you like milk?" Kurt asked him, almost suspiciously.

          Raven rolled his eyes. "I guess so." He replied coolly.

          "Oh. Well, that's good." Kurt said, sounding defeated, like he didn't catch Raven in something. _Poor Raven, Kurt's so mean to him._

          "Why does this feel like I'm meeting my girlfriend's parents?" Raven whispered inconspicuously to Sam, who couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

          "Because Kurt acts like my father. Don't mind him." She whispered back. Kurt glanced at the two.

          "Kurt, just drink your milk." Chris said, obviously annoyed by his actions too. Sam gave him a thankful look and he winked at her.

          "I think I will!" he declared. All three of them rolled their eyes.

          They got their food, and Sam knew if Kurt just eyeballed Raven, everything would be all right. Of course, this was Kurt Angle, and the day he left things at that without talking was obviously the day the world was going to end.

          "You two aren't having sex yet, are you?"

          Sam almost choked on her pancake. She managed to dislodge it from the middle of her throat and swallowed it, all the while staring in shock at her cousin, as was Raven and Chris.

          "Kurt!" Sam cried, immediately embarrassed.

          "I know what you young kids do these days. All that hanky panky." Kurt continued.

          "I am not having sex with him." She stated, Kurt looking at her suspiciously. "And anyway, he's older then you!"

          "Kirk, you're an idiot." Chris shook his head.

          "What! They're going out, aren't they?"

          "NO!" was the resounding answer by all three of them. Kurt looked sheepish.

          "Oh. Oops." He said. "Then why did Rob break it off with you?"

          Sam had enough. She stood up and stalked away. Chris gave Kurt an angry look and quickly got up to go after her. Raven was going to go as well, but Kurt stopped him.

          "Wait, Raven…" he trailed off. Raven looked annoyed.

          "What?" he asked.

          "Can you tell me what happened between her and Rob?" he asked, looking uncomfortable. Raven glanced toward where Chris left, then slowly nodded.

          "All right, whatever." He responded.

          Sam stared at her reflection, shaking her head sadly. _Kurt is such an idiot sometimes._ She sighed. "I look horrible."

          "No you don't."

          She jumped at the voice, turning to see Chris in the bathroom with her.

          "Chris, news flash, guys aren't supposed to be in here." She smirked. He locked the door.

          "Who said I'm in here?" he asked. She rolled her eyes, pulling herself up to sit on the area where the faucets were. "You all right?"

          "Not especially. Kurt's got me mad." She muttered.

          "Is that it?"

          "No."

          "Then what is it?"

          "I miss Rob." She said in a rush of emotion. "I can't believe he doesn't love me enough to believe I changed. Am I some kind of a monster?"

          She didn't even realize she had started to cry again. _From the toughest chick in the world to a crying mess. I'm so pathetic. _Chris moved to her.

          "Look at me." He said quietly. She didn't, so he gently lifted her chin. "You're not a monster. You've just had a rough time, but you're getting better. A monster has no feelings, and you always have had those. You pretended a lot that you didn't, but even with me I felt like you cared so much about people that you hid it. Last night you just disillusioned Rob about his view on the world is all. I'm sure he'll forgive you. If he doesn't, he's stupid. Or at least I think so. There's a lot of people who would love to be in his place."

          "Like who?" she asked, bitterly.

          "Me, for instance." He chuckled at her surprised look. "Raven, too, I think. I think maybe even more then me. You know how to treat people right when you try, Sam. I know I saw that, and so did Kurt even though he's a bit slow, and Raven and everyone else that you've met that had an ounce of respect for you. But most of all, Rob saw that. I don't think he'll just forget that because you decided to tell him the truth about your past mistakes."

          "Do you really think so?" she asked, sounding hopeful.

          "Hey, I'm Chris Jericho, I never lie!" he declared. She smiled, letting herself stand up. She walked to Chris and kissed him on the cheek.

          "You know, Chris, you're my best friend." She smiled.

          "Damn straight, and that ain't changing!" he said, before pulling her I to him and ruffling her hair. She pushed him away playfully, fixing her now messy hair.

          "You're also an idiot." She pouted, and he smiled.

          "And proud of it!"

          They went back to the table and found Raven looking like he was about to fall asleep, while Kurt seemed to be yapping away. As they got closer, both got a glimpse of what Kurt was saying.

          "So then I take my medal and…"

          "You're back." Raven said, sounding thankful. He looked like was ready to hug both her AND Chris.

          "Oh darn. I was just telling Raven about my medal win!" he stated proudly.

          "My sympathies." Chris said to Raven, who actually gave a half-grin. 

          She slid into the seat next to Raven again, and Kurt looked at her sympathetically.

          "I'm sorry what happened with Rob, Sam. I didn't know." He paused. "But why'd you have to go any do that just to piss me off?!"

          "Because pissing you off is fun, Kirk." Chris chimed in cheerfully.

          "You know, it was so much more quiet when you weren't here." He glared at Sam and Chris.

          "Yeah, because I think you put Raven to sleep for a while there." Sam joked.

          "No way! He loved my stories!" Kurt declared, not noticing Raven coughing loudly at the statement.

          "I think I've had enough excitement for today." Sam murmured, Raven nodding his head in agreement.

          "So did I. I say we go home and play a board game!"

          "Because I carry those things everywhere." Chris rolled his eyes.

          "I do!" Kurt nodded.

          "Can I leave, please?" Raven asked Sam, sounding panicked. Sam smiled evilly.

          "If I have to sit through it, so do you." She said, and he groaned.

          "Raven can be on MY team!" Kurt continued.

          "Goody." He responded, deadpan.

          "We are not going to play a board game, Kirk. No way." Chris smirked.

          "Come on, please?"

          "NO!"

          He sighed in defeat. They paid for their barely eaten food and went back to the hotel. Sam excused herself to the bed, wanting to take a nap of some sorts. She looked physically and emotionally drained still. Losing the title, losing Rob, losing her whole life perspective had hit her hard. No one blamed her for being in a least perfect condition. After all, the more she slept, the more Chris had time to plan his idea.


	23. The Mission

Chapter 23 – The Mission

**A/N: **Just to tell you, this one is actually in Raven's more or less perspective...I need to explain this scene, and since Sam isn't in it, it's time to let the story follow someone else for once…just like Sam, you're gonna hear his thoughts…you may run now, I have warned you. ^_^;

~~

          "I'll be going." Raven said, trying to sneak out. _Kurt's going to drive me into an early grave, I have a feeling…my head hurts. I knew I should have followed Sam with Chris._

He glanced quietly at the sleeping Sam, who was curled up under the covers, looking even upset in her sleep. He felt compelled to run and hug her, or something of that nature, but especially to show that everything was going to be all right in the end. _Right, and I'll be a great comfort. The world's most depressed intellectual. I couldn't cheer anyone up if I had a balloon animal on my head._

          "Where you going, Raven?" He turned to look at Chris.

          "Yeah, where you going? We're playing Pictionary soon!" Kurt said cheerfully. _What I want to know is how Sam came from the same gene pool as this idiot. I wonder if she's adopted…_

          "As amazingly amusing as that sounds, I've wore out my time here." Raven said, trying to excuse himself politely.

          "Raven, I need your help." Chris said bluntly. He raised a brow at Chris. _Chris Jericho needing my help? Well, that's quite the first._

"For what?" he asked, curious to know.

          "I want to help Sam get Rob back." Chris responded, lowering his voice. "I need your help, because without you it's just me and Kurt."

          "Yep! Me and Chris, private eyes!"

          "I see your point." Raven murmured, shaking his head. _This is way past my social interaction quota of the day…it should be at the stunning number zero…_

"Help me. Please. I think Rob'll shoot himself…" he noticed Kurt listening, "…if I didn't get him back with her. Yeah."

          Raven understood. He sighed and nodded glumly. "I'll help, but only for Sam."

          "Good! I have a plan." Chris responded enthusiastically. "We tell him what Sam did for him last night, and tell him if he doesn't go out with her we hit him with a bat!"

          Raven gave Chris a deadpan look. _Lesson number one for the day. Never trust a blonde haired loud-mouthed Canadian to make the plans. _"Perhaps I can give some feedback?"

          "Sure, you're apart of the team after all." Chris nodded.

          "How about we just tell him what Sam did, and how horrible she looks, and how incredibly stupid he would be if he decided to dump her after she had enough bravery to tell him the truth?" Raven asked, then, upon realizing his little speech, tried not to blush. _Yeah, great way to show you don't like her. I have to remember not to talk like that, I don't want her to ever know…_

"Or we can just pay him to go back out with her." Both Raven and Chris looked at Kurt. "What! It's a good idea…"

          "Shut up, Kirk." Chris said, rubbing his temples.

          "Right." He nodded.

          "I think I can go for what you said, Raven. Not a bad idea at all." Chris seemed to be thinking. "But whatever we do, I don't think we should just stand around here…I don't think she'd appreciate us going behind her back."

          "She isn't going to kill us, is she?" Kurt asked in a whisper, glancing toward his cousin.

          "Does he have to come with us?" Raven asked Chris. Kurt pouted.

          "Hey! It's a decent question." Kurt interjected.

          "He'll only follow us anyway."

          "You two should be honored that I, an Olympic gold medallist, am willing to grace your presence." Kurt continued. Raven, especially, rolled his eyes at the comment. _This mission is all ready doomed to fail._

They left the room, though they didn't really have a set direction. Raven didn't know where Rob was stationed anymore, and even if he did at that point no one was sure how to approach it. Would Rob listen to them, in any case scenario? It was a fifty fifty chance. If it did end badly, Sam probably would never be the same.

          Raven sighed at the thought. _I don't want her to turn bitter like I did. She doesn't deserve that._

          "Citizen Raven! Citizen Jericho! Citizen Angle!" They stopped in the hallway they were in, and all three of them turned to see Hurricane quickly approaching. He stopped, gulping air down, looking like he just ran a marathon.

          "Whoa, where'd you get that shiner?" Chris pointed to the black and blue on his cheek that was mostly covered by his mask.

          "Citizen Sam decided to use me for punching practice." He explained, quickly. "But 'lo! That is not why I speak to you, Citizen Chris. I have some information that is pertinent to what I think you seek!"

          "Speak English, Hero Boy." Kurt smirked.

          "Do you know where Rob is, Hurricane?" Raven asked, ignoring Kurt.

          "Ahh, Citizen Raven, it's what I came to talk to you about! My hurri-senses detect quite an outpouring of feelings from Citizen Rob. He's quite upset about something, whatsupwitdat?!" Hurricane asked, peering at the three.

          "Rob and Sam broke up." Chris piped in.

          "Oh, I see. I figured at least that much. Well, even though Citizen Sam has never been very nice to me, and she's also a traitor I've heard, we all know why she did what she did last night. Citizen Sam's actions made her heroic, and I will help you then because of that. Citizen Rob's room is down this hall, last door to the left. You would be wise to take caution, Citizen Raven, you better not be seen with two WWF members too often. Not so many people are as nice as I." Hurricane nodded.

          "Thank you." Raven said, sounding a bit relieved. They were getting somewhere.

          "Not a problem. Now I must be off! To the hurri-mobile!" And he was off, running again. Kurt watched him go, looking like he was thinking.

          "I thought superheroes fly." He said, contemplating.

          "Come on, Kirk." Chris said, all ready dragging the shorter man toward the direction of the room.

          No planning? Yeah, this is going to turn out well. I better stop them before they do something stupid. "Guys, hold up, we really need to plan this out. We can't just go in there and demand that he go out with her again." Raven stated.

          "We can't?" Kurt frowned.

          "No. We need to make sure we go about this right." Raven continued, cautiously. "We can't seem too pushy, you know? He's got to want to go back out with her, or it'll be pointless."

          "All righty, then let's do that." Kurt nodded his head. "Come on."

          Raven sighed as the other two walked ahead. _They think this is going to be so easy, but I know it isn't. Rob is as hurt as she is, I would suspect._

They got to the door, and Raven watched as Chris knocked on it. It took a minute, but the door slowly opened. Raven blinked, as did Chris and Kurt.

          Rob looked worse then any of them expected. He eyed the three of them suspiciously, almost accusingly.

          "I don't want to talk to her." He said, gruffly, looking as if he was about to slam the door on their faces. Chris stopped it with his foot.

          "Hear us out, all right?" Chris frowned. "I swear we're doing this on our own accord."

          Rob looked at them again, then sighed. "Fine, I'll give you five minutes." He opened the door wide enough to give them entry.

          Rob sat on the bed, staring at the three men. "You know she's sorry about what she did, right?"

          "I'll bet." He replied, bitterly.

          "Come on, my cousin never admits she's wrong EVER." Kurt interjected.

          "Shut up, Kirk." Chris said sourly. He turned to Rob. "And she gave up her Hardcore championship for you too."

          This seemed to peak his interest, and it was then Raven realized it. _He doesn't know about last night…I'm glad I had the sense to tape what happened in my locker room…thank god for technology._

"Will you watch something?" Raven asked. Rob looked unsure, but nodded. Raven easily produced the tape, which he had put in his coat pocket. Rob and everyone else watched as he set it up.

          He pushed play and the image of Austin all ready berating Sam popped onto the TV screen. All four of them watched the scene, even though only Rob had not seen it. His face grew grimmer as he continued to watch Sam get destroyed and humiliated.

          "Why doesn't she fight back?" Rob asked, staring at the screen.

          Chris instantly understood what Raven was doing. "Sam was saving your job, that's what she was doing." He said, nodding his head.

          "What do you mean?" Rob asked, turning his attention to them now.

          "Remember that day when Sam was called to stay with Austin so he could 'talk to her'?" Raven asked. Rob nodded slowly. "Well, it seems Austin had found out about her and used it to his advantage. He told Sam that if she didn't do exactly what he said to do, he would fire you too for harboring a traitor. So she knew she wanted you to find out from her and not from him, so she told you. You broke it up with her, but I guess she still felt you were worth getting humiliated for."

          Rob stayed quiet, his eyes on the TV screen again. _If you still say no after this, you're a fool. _"She lost her title because of me. Huh."

          "Look, I know Sam's a bit of a head case, but yesterday she said I wasn't so bad. She has never ever said anything like that to me, and I think it's because her whole experience with you has really changed her. She really feels horrible about what she did." Kurt spoke. Raven glanced at the cousin of his friend. _I think that might have been the smartest thing he's ever said in front of me._

"You wouldn't understand how much I miss her." He suddenly said, looking at the three. "When she told me, I was like…oh my god, she's been lying to me…I didn't know what to think, so I just left her. I didn't even mean to say what I said…I know it was wrong that she lied, but she told me, and I knew that meant something…afterwards, I guess I just figured that I would get over her."

          "Well, are you? Getting over her, I mean." Chris asked, curious.

          "It's been over 15 hours and not one minute has ticked by where I didn't think of her. It's driving me nuts. And now with this…" he gestured to the TV. "But why would she want me after I totally blew her off?"

          "Are you nuts? If I have to see my cousin mope around one more hour, I think I'll have to shoot myself!" Kurt exclaimed. "You gotta apologize. Or something."

          "How about you take her to a nice restaurant?" Raven offered. Rob frowned.

          "I would but…the Alliance is all tight on cash…aren't you?"

          Raven squirmed. All right, so I haven't spent any of my money…sigh. Sam, you owe me. "Not really. I could probably spare you a few dollars, I guess."

          Rob looked surprised at the offer. "I can chip in too, and Kurt can also." Chris added.

          "What? I nev…"

          "RIGHT Kurt?!" Chris eyed him. Kurt sighed and nodded.

          "Yeah, yeah." He rolled his eyes.

          "Wow guys, this is great!" Rob stood up, a wide grin on his face. "I owe you big time."

          "Just as long as you don't burn the place down, we're even, all right?" Chris smirked.

          "Speak for your…" Kurt hushed when Chris glared at him again.

          Raven was still frowning, though. _I hope Sam has a dress…what the hell am I thinking? This is Sam we're talking about, of course she doesn't. Great._

          "With that settled, I'm going to go." Raven said, knowing the other two would never be able to get anyone to give up a dress for her. But he did, he knew of one person.

          They let him go, and he slipped out, feeling a growing panic rise in him. He knew he would be able to find her, to find Molly, but he never actually spoke to her in a normal person-to-person situation without animosity. She probably thought he was a freak, with just cause of course…still. After minimal searching, he found her getting herself some soda from the machine. He just sort of stood there a moment, feeling his stomach tumble over in nervousness.

          "Um…Molly?" he asked, his voice pretty low. Still, she turned around, and took a step back, her face etched in surprise.

          "Oh, hi Raven." She said, her tone showing her shock plainly. "What's up?"

          "This might sound a bit strange, but do you have any extra dresses around?" he asked. _Right to the point. Now if only I could stop blushing…_

"Well, golly, Raven, of course I do but…I don't think they'll fit you." She giggled slightly. He blushed more.

          "No no, not for me." He shook his head, getting a little braver. "For my friend. Sam. She's kinda tomboyish and I don't think she'll have a dress for the place we're taking her to to get her back with Rob. It's a long story."

          She smiled. "Oh Raven, that's so sweet! Of course I can give up a dress. It's fancy, I'm guessing. It's a little too big for me anyway, but I have the perfect one. Come on, it's up in my room." And that was that.

          When they got to the room, he lingered outside, almost like he wasn't sure if he was allowed in. She waved him in, and he cautiously entered, like he expected something to jump out at him. He quietly watched her rummage through her things. I never thought I'd be in here…Molly's so beautiful. I'm glad she didn't just laugh in my face…

          "Ah hah!" Molly squealed, pulling out a perfect blue dress. It was shiny, and looked as if it would fit Sam and her blue hair perfectly. "She'll need shoes too. Is she kinda little like me?"

          "Yeah, sorta." He nodded slightly.

          "All right, well, here." She put the dress in his arms, then put a pair of lower heeled shoes. "Those are real easy to walk in." She thought a moment. "And…"

          By the time she was done, Raven definitely had enough to give Sam to transform the poor unknowing girl. As he left, Molly stopped him.

          "Hey Raven, wait up." She said, and he turned to look at her with a curious glance.

          "Yes?" he asked.

          "I know you must really like this girl if you're coming around to get her stuff for a date that you're not going on." She commented idly.

          "Yeah, I do." He admitted. She smiled brightly.

          "I sure had you wrong! I didn't think you were all bad." She teased. "I'll talk to you later, all right? Tell Sam I said good luck!"

          _Talk to her later?_ Raven felt the red rush to his face, and he managed a nod before walking off, the stuff in his arms.


	24. Time of Your Life

Chapter 24 – Time Of Your Life

          "What do you mean I have to go to a dinner tonight?" she asked, sounding exasperated. "I don't have anything to wear for a dinner!" 

          It was obvious the two in front of her had not thought of this. _I can't believe they're all ready making me go out. God!_

          "We'll figure that out soon, but will you do it? It's in your honor." Chris looked at her expectantly. She sighed.

          "I don't know…" she sighed.

          "It'll be good for you, Sam." Kurt added. She sighed in defeat.

          "Fine, I'll go, but you'll never find a dress at…"

          "Lookit what I got." Raven said as he walked through the open door to their room. They all looked toward him as he presented Molly's gifts. _Great. Just fucking great._

"Hey Raven, that just lying around?" Chris teased.

          "No. I asked Molly."

          All three of them stared at him.

          "You actually talked to her?" Sam asked, surprised.

          "Yeah. I got to see her room." He said, actually sounding happy. Sam chuckled at this, then looked at the dress.

          "I don't know…I look awful in dresses." She sighed.

          "How would you know? You've never worn a dress your entire life!" Kurt pointed out, not noticing the glare she got from Sam.

          "Why don't you try it on and we'll tell you if it's all right?" Chris offered. Sam squirmed slightly, nodded slowly, and got up. Raven handed her the items and she took in, almost shyly. Walking to the bathroom, she closed the door behind her. Placing it on the little counter that held the faucet, she looked at herself. There were bags under her eyes, and she honestly did look tired as ever. _I don't know about this…_

Deciding to humor her friends for once, she pulled her day-old clothing off and carefully slid on the dress. It was basically the perfect fit, it smoothing against her body well, fitting in all the right places. She put on the shoes, which weren't so far off from shoes she had worn before when the attire was to dress up a little more. She looked at herself again, unsure of what to think. _I feel like a different person. _It was a strange realization, but as she looked, she saw that something about herself  that wasn't usual. Her whole facial features used to be rough and jagged, her eyes used to have a certain spark of determination in them, and she always seemed to be tensed. Now…her face softened, as were her sadden, depressed eyes. She had lost the look of a person who thought she had her emotions in check, only to realize she never really did.

          She exited the bathroom after much consideration, walking into plain view of the three who was waiting for her. They all looked and a collective gasp filled the room, making her blush slightly. Without warning, though, her old personality came out with a vengeance.

          "Whatchu lookin' at, ain't you ever seen a dress before?" she smirked.

          "Yeah but…Sam, you look amazing. I never thought…I mean…" Chris stuttered. She couldn't help but chuckle.

          "That good, huh?" she smiled, tilting her head. "Do you two agree?"

          "What the hell did you do to my cousin?" Kurt asked, blinking.

          "You look stunning, Sam. Really." Raven added, nodding his head. She smiled.

          "I guess so…this is still really not me." She said, still feeling a bit strange.

          "It'll be fun…show everyone you're a hot looker too." Chris winked at her. She could not place it, but Chris looked particularly sneaky. Deciding it was her imagination, she pushed the thought away.

~~

          "Aren't you coming in?" Sam asked over the crowd.

          "We're just parking. We'll meet you in there, Sam." Chris explained. She groaned and nodded her head.

          "All right, whatever." She called back, and watched them drive away. Turning, she walked toward the door. This place is amazing. Some little hoodlum like me doesn't deserve to eat at a place like this…

          "Your coat, madame?" a man asked her. She was a bit surprised, but took her coat off and gave it to him. She walked to where it looked like you gave your name. When it was her turn, the man with the obvious fake hair looked at her with what seemed like contempt.

          "My name is Samantha Wesley…" she trailed off. He sighed and looked at his list. He must have found her name.

          "Ah yes…a table is set up…you also have flowers." He pulled a bouquet of roses from the part of the desk he was sitting in back of she couldn't see. She blinked and took them. _Flowers? All right, that's kinda weird…_"Follow the waiter, he will take you to your table."

          She sighed and did so, though she was paying attention more to the flowers. _I don't get it, flowers…_

"It's right over there, miss." The waiter said and left. She went in the direction of where he pointed.

          She only noticed him when she was almost in front of him. She stopped short, her eyes widening in shock.

          "Rob?" she asked, causing him to look up. He quickly got out of his seat, and they stared at each other for a moment.

          "Hey Sam." He said, mustering a smile.

          "Wait, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking around. Rob frowned when he heard this.

          "I suppose Chris made a little fib, then? Oh well, I suppose it's better that way." He paused. "Would you like to have dinner with me, Sam?"

          She stared at him, feeling her heart start to beat a little faster. _I'm going to kill all three of those bastards…_ "All right, I guess so." She said, nervously. He smiled and walked around to her chair, pulling it out for her. She sat down, and he pushed it in, scrambling back to his side. He sat, eyeing her cautiously.

          "Do ya like the flowers?" he asked after a long, dramatic pause between them.

          "Yes, actually…uh, permit me to ask, Rob, but why exactly are we here doing this?" she asked, staring at him.

          "What? Oh…yeah, that is a good question." He stated. She just kept looking at him. "Listen, ah, I know this is going to sound insane, but I'm really sorry about what happened…between us…my actions were horrible, and I've really been thinking about everything…"

          "And?" Sam raised a brow.

          "And I miss you. If I didn't try to win you back, it would be the biggest mistake in my life." He admitted. When she didn't respond, she knew he was making him nervous. "So…?"

          "Are you sure about it?" she asked, cautiously. "I mean, you're on a different team now, and I probably lost all your trust…"

          "I know…it might be hard but…" he looked like he was thinking a moment. "There's some things worth that, you know? It was a mistake to leave you for once second…even if you tell me no now, I will always love you."

          _Always love me…_ She suddenly noticed people were getting up to dance, which wasn't surprising because there was a large spot designated for dancing. Instead of answering, she knew one thing could definitely make her sure. "Would you like to dance, Rob?"

          "Me? Dance?" he asked, surprised. She nodded. "…All right."

          With ease, they made it to the dance floor, which probably annoyed the waiter who had come to take their order. They just started dancing, not actually speaking, though at that point she felt herself to be light-headed. She missed his touch, and he looked so handsome in his suit…

          "You look beautiful tonight, Sam," Rob smiled. She blushed slightly. "Though I think I like you in normal clothing better."

          "Trust me, so do I." She giggled. She stared at him for another moment, letting the music take over her. _I can't leave him, no matter how bad our one day break-up was. This is who I'm supposed to be with, I know it…_

They had just started kissing, and she didn't even realize it. It made her feel whole again, to feel him so close, to be able to just look at him. She actually felt tears spring up as they finally broke it, and she smiled sadly at Rob.

          "I thought you were never going to talk to me again." She admitted. "It almost killed me to think I hurt you like that…"

          "You did what you needed to do, I understand…" he smiled. "I've made mistakes too, and even later on I will…and I know I would want you to look past them…"

          "Yeah, I would." She nodded. Finally she pulled him into a hug, and they just stood there on the dance floor, holding each other like they hadn't seen each other in years. Rob only pulled away slightly to talk. "I love you, Sam. I always will."

          She felt the familiar warmth spread inside her at the words. "I love you too, Rob…I love you too."

~~

          She opened the door as quietly as she could, looking around the total darkness. She was surprised to find Raven still awake in the dark, because he instantly walked to her to find out what happened. She giggled and pulled him into the bathroom so as not to disturb Chris and Kurt, who were all sleeping there as well.

          "I should kick your asses for doing that to me." She stated, shaking her head. Raven smiled.

          "It was for your own good…don't need you to mope around and all that. Too depressing, and I've got enough of that." He rolled his eyes.

          "We got back together." Sam explained. "We're keeping it a secret, though, until the whole fighting thing dies down."

          "That's great, Sam! I'm really glad to hear that." Raven responded. Sam grinned at him.

          "Yeah, and I have this feeling you're to thank for all of this." She said pointedly. Raven shrugged.

          "Not really, Chris and Kurt were with me too…"

          "Rob said you taped what happened with me and Austin. And you talked to your crush to get me a dress…plus, every time I've thought I was in the pit of no return, you always managed to find a rope long enough to pull me out…" she trailed off.

          "It's nothing, really." He shook his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

          "Yes, well, I need you to do me a big favor right now." She said, looking at him.

          "All right." He agreed, though a bit cautiously.

          "I need you to tell Molly you like her, and to show her what you've been showing me…it works, trust me." She smiled and pulled him into a soft hug which he readily responded to.

          "But I don't know…"

          "A promise is a promise." She giggled. "I'm going with Rob now. Tell Chris and Kurt?"

          "Yeah, sure." He nodded. She waved and was gone again, to catch up with Rob.

          It was a few weeks later when she saw Molly showing a very non-moody looking Raven a statue that she probably found as beautiful. It made Sam smile, enough that she even pointed it out to Rob, who also obviously found it cute. Chris and Kurt were constant reminders of her life in the WWF, and Kurt had even lowered himself in levels to joke around her group of friends. As for Austin…well, the minute she could, she beat his ass in double time…one for her win that night, one for the humiliation he had put her through. It was only fair, after all…

          And for the first time in her life, Sam was truly happy and content with her life, just as she always wanted to be.

~End~

**A/N:** After all these months, TTTWB is finally completed. Finished. Done. ^_^; It still amazes me this started out as a fic I didn't think anyone would like and didn't think would ever be finished to this…a 24 chapter story that people actually read (Gasp!). I want to thank all of you for reading my stuff, and especially reviewing it…it's great to see you liked following Sam's life as much as I did! (And for all those who was unsure of how I was going to end this…whatchu thinking? When have I ever ended anything sad? XD) Look out for my next story...it's all ready on FF.net –hinthint- Just A Girl is its title…insanity is mine…XD


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